Second Round
by Rasberry Jo
Summary: Sabo's life was saved by Dragon ten years ago. He, Ace and Luffy went to become pirates at age 17 and 14. What would happen with our beloved Straw Hat Pirates if they had a captain who already knew Grand Line?
1. Recruiting the Navigator

**Disclaimer: I own One Piece as much as I'm a boy (here's a fun fact: I'm a woman).**

**Summary: Sabo was saved by Dragon when the tenryuubito, Saint Jalmack, shot his boat. He, Ace, and Luffy went out to the sea together at age 17/14. What would happen to our beloved Straw Hats if they had a captain who had experienced Grand Line once already?**

**Warnings: slight OOCness, language, gay jokes, language.**

**Pairing: as of now only what's in canon (pretty much just onesided Hancock/Luffy), however if my reviewers are heavily persuasive I might pair some people. However, DO NOT ask for LuNa, that's something I never liked. Actually I don't like a lot of popular pairings like LuNa, IchiRuki, NaruSaku etc. For one reason: abusive females (I dislike that anime/manga stereotype, that comic relief is so overused and not even that funny in my opinion).**

**A/N: I'm trying to stay as true to the characters' personalities as possible, except for Luffy and somewhat Nami.**** Nami will not be the extremely punch-happy bitchy broad she is in canon, but this has a good reason I will reveal next chapter.**

**A/N2: If you've read my other stories or profile you already know I'm a fag-hag and enjoy writing shounen ai. This story will probably not have this for main characters, unless I get very convincing reviews unanimously. Instead I'll use (bad) gay jokes and mention side characters in past or present non hetero relationships. I can give one example now: MihawkShanks (those two totally dig each other, lol).**

**PS: regarding manga vs. anime, I'm taking both into consideration and using the elements whichever I like more.**

**Posted: 18.08. 2011**

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><p><strong>Sabo's appearance:<strong>

**He has a scarring on the left side of his face from the accident caused by the tenryuubito. He keeps that part of his face hidden by hair. What's changed notably is his hair is black thanks to a favor from Ivankov. He is also almost completely blind from that eye. He wears light blue shorts similar to Luffy's minus the ragged edges. He has a light blue swallowtail coat that he wears open to show off his toned physique. And of course he still has the same top hat. Not too different from when he was a kid.**

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><p><strong>Sabo, Ace and Luffy all have a tattoo on their right bicep. It spells out ASL, the letters underneath one another (similar to how canon-Ace has ASCE, with S crossed out.)<strong>

**Sabo and Ace have a tattoo of Whitebeard's jolly roger on their backs, but Luffy does not, since he never planned on staying with him permanently.**

**Luffy looks the same, except he wears a yellow sash around his waist. It looks the same he wears post-timeskip. He wears his red vest either open or half tucked in the sash.**

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><p><strong>Luffy's powers:<strong>

**Luffy is more powerful than in canon because he had harsher training in Grand Line than just Garp and his survival training he would've otherwise received. He's definitely not as strong as post-timeskip!Luffy, mainly because with age comes physical brute strength, haki control, and of course he has not discovered his gears.**

**Luffy's personality:**

**Remember how Luffy had no problem with eat-and-run, thieving and other misdeeds while he was with his brothers? This is how I think Luffy would turn out if he had a role model to study captaincy from up close and personal. Neither Ace nor Whitebeard strike me as men who would let their crew walk all over them, however much dear they may be held.**** So Luffy will be a bit harsher and not afraid to dish out punishment if it's necessary. He will also be a **_**little**_** more villainous than original, but of course still a rather nice person.**

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><p>"So, remind me again why you want a crew from East Blue? The <em>weakest of all Blues<em>." Sabo asked when they had been sailing for about a day.

Whitebeard had thrown one hell of a farewell party to Luffy, who had been one of his 'sons' for two years, and then Hancock had given him and Ace a ride over Calm Belt. Ace hated Hancock with passion because he thought of her as a pedophile ("She fell in love with Luffy when he was only 15 for crying out loud!" He yelled at a laughing Sabo who just thought it was hilarious).

"Because I want to." Luffy replied simply.

Sabo shook his head. Ever since they'd set out three years ago Luffy always said he'll return one day to recruit a crew, even if he had better chances getting stronger underlings from Grand Line. Sabo, Ace and even Whitebeard had tried to convince him otherwise, but Luffy's remained completely adamant on his birthplace.

"So, where to first, captain?" Sabo asked, saying 'captain' in a teasing tone.

"You don't have to call me captain, y'know. You're technically not my nakama."

Sabo shook his head humorously.

"Take the general course towards Gecko Island."

Sabo raised an eyebrow.

"You want to recruit your sharpshooter first?"

Shortly before Spade pirates integrated into the Whitebeard pirates they ran into Shanks and his crew in New World. Luffy got sick of Yasopp's normal tirades about his son so he pretty much screamed at him if he would shut up if Luffy made Usopp one of his nakama. Yasopp didn't stop, of course, but he did give Luffy one of his flintlock pistols to give to his son as a gift whether or not Usopp would become Luffy's sharpshooter. Luffy promised to deliver the gift.

"Not necessarily. Syrup Village is the only _place_, aside from Baratie pops recommended, I specifically want to go to. If we find people I like on the way it's all as well."

Sabo nodded. The logic was sound, considering they had no idea where to start looking people otherwise.

"Hey look, is that a dinghy?" Luffy asked as he scanned the sea with The Look.

Soon after they had started their journey Luffy had been pouting he didn't have a telescope like his brothers did, so Sabo had recommended he try stretching his eyeballs bigger to see if he can see better or farther if he caught more light into his pupils. It had worked a little _too_ well. And thus the Puppy Eyes of Doom were born (with capital letters for a reason).

Sabo turned to look at where his brother was pointing.

"Hey, you're right. I wonder if it's abandoned."

"Ne, Sabo, let's check it out."

The two sailed over. It was a small dinghy alright, but it wasn't abandoned. Aboard was a young girl about Luffy's age.

"Hmm? Is this some kind of fish? Is it dead? Can we eat it?"

Sabo slapped Luffy lightly on the head.

"It's a girl Luffy."

"Oh, I guess we can't eat it then. Oi, are you dead?" Luffy poked the passed out female.

Slowly she raised her exhausted gaze and smiled.

"Am I dreaming?" She started softly "To run into someone in this vast, open sea. I don't know who you are, but… could I have some water. I-I'll give you all the money you want, just please…"

Sabo didn't wait for her to finish but immediately scooped her up bridal style and placed her on their sailboat. There was a reason he had the nickname 'Gentleman Sabo'. Luffy went inside their tiny cabin and retrieved some water.

"Here ya go, missy." He said with a wide grin.

Sabo had gone to investigate the treasure chest the girl had promised them.

"What's in there, Sabo?" Luffy asked as he walked over.

"One moment, Lu, I need to get this thing open first." _Click_ "Ahh, here we go."

A moment later a toy panda head on a spring jumped out. Luffy cocked his head, confused.

"That's treasure?" He asked.

"No I think we were scammed." Sabo replied and turned to see the redhead sailing further away with their boat. She let out a merry giggle.

"You're welcome to keep everything, including the boat." She said mockingly.

She glanced at the distance and her tone voice took the tone of a weather forecaster.

"There are some dark clouds incoming from north. Once it hits low pressure area a storm shall develop. All small boats out at sea are recommended to watch out."

Luffy and Sabo looked up at forming thunderclouds.

"That was a rotten thing she did." Luffy said like he was discussing weather while sipping tea.

"A." Sabo agreed.

"But she sure is good at predicting weather, isn't she?"

"A."

"She must be one hell of a navigator, right?"

"A."

"Think she'll join my crew?"

"Who knows?"

Sabo shrugged and grabbed ahold of Luffy's shoulders.

"Let's find out, shall we?" He said with a mild smile as Luffy swung his arm around a couple of times to build up a bit of momentum and launched it towards their boat. Luffy grabbed the edge of the ship and the two shot towards their old sailboat just as the woman's small dinghy sunk.

"What the…?" The girl exclaimed in surprise and fell over.

"I see you're doing better, miss. My name's Sabo. Pleased to make your acquaintance." Sabo said, taking off his had and made an elaborate low bow- his usual way of introducing himself.

"I'm Luffy, nice to meet ya." Luffy said while lightly tipping his straw hat- a habit pummeled into him by Sabo.

"N-Nami." Nami stuttered out.

"Whoo, that was some weather prediction skills you had there, Nami. Are ya any good at navigation?" Luffy asked, his tone as light as usual.

The girl, Nami, suddenly seemed a lot less scared and gained an air of pride.

"Only the best in East Blue."

"I must say I'm impressed. I pride myself in being one hell of a navigator myself, but I must admit I would not have realized that shift in weather as quick as that, or knowing where exactly it would stop." Sabo said courteously like usual.

"Maybe it's because we're in a sea where the weather actually makes sense?" Luffy jested and the two brothers shared a laugh making Nami raise an eyebrow, not getting the joke.

"Ne, are you a pirate, miss Nami?" Sabo asked.

The girl took offense.

"AS IF! Like hell am I a dirty pirate. I'm a thief that only steals from pirates." She said and stuck her nose in the air.

"Really? How did you know _we_ were pirates?" Luffy asked.

"Eh?" Nami said and looked at the top of their mast.

"That's strange, I could've sworn I saw a jolly roger up there." She muttered, and turned to the two men. "Uh, so you aren't pirates?" She asked a bit sheepishly.

"Nope, we are." Luffy said and grinned widely. "Say, how about becoming my nakama?" He asked.

"No way!" Nami screamed.

"Why not?" Luffy pouted.

Nami opened her mouth to say that she hated all pirates and they were all scum, but was stopped as she was assaulted by Puppy Eyes of Doom. She blushed at how adorable and disarming the proclaimed pirate was. Sabo facepalmed. No one was immune to that, and Luffy _knew_ it.

"Are you _sure_ you're a pirate?" Nami asked, skeptical.

Luffy's Puppy Eyes of Doom disappeared immediately in favor of a pissed off look.

"Why the hell not!" He threw a tantrum, and stamped his foot on the ground strong enough to rock the boat. It rocked enough to upset a wave and soak the three of them.

"Careful now, you know you can't swim." Sabo placated his pissed off brother.

Luffy sat down pouting.

"Don't I look like a pirate?" He asked Sabo.

"I think she meant that you're not a complete asshole, as is the general outlook on pirates these days."

"Is that so? Okay, then I'll forgive you?" Luffy said grinning.

Nami wasn't listening, still clutching to the edge from Luffy's rocking of the boat. Her back was turned at the two brothers and her white shirt was soaked. You know what happens to wet white shirts, don't you? Yep, they get see through.

"That tattoo on your shoulder. It looks familiar." Sabo said and Nami freaked.

"W-what t-tattoo? I have a tattoo? I don't have a tattoo! Do you want me to get a tattoo?" She babbled in panic.

Sabo raised an eyebrow.

"What!" Nami screamed when neither of the brothers said anything.

"May I see your back?" Sabo asked out of the blue.

"Like hell!" Nami screamed and karate chopped him on the head.

She went on and on screaming at him, too busy being pissed off that she failed to notice Luffy sneak up behind her and shred her shirt to pieces. Nami let out a scream in surprise and karate chopped Luffy too. "You pervert!"

"I've never seen it before. But it looks like some kind of fish." Luffy said, not the least bit hurt, upset or even fazed by his female co-traveler's assault.

"A fish?" Sabo echoed.

"Yep. Ne, does this mean you work at a sushi bar?" Luffy asked excitedly as he thought about food.

"It looked more like a pirate mark." Sabo said thoughtfully.

"Pirate mark of a fish? Hey, didn't Jinbei say one of his old nakama migrated here?" Luffy said excitedly. Comprehension dawned on Sabo's face.

"Oh yeah, he did. What was that guy's name again?"

"Armstrong?"

"Uh, I don't think do. Um… ah! It was Arlong."

Sabo noticed as Nami flinched, but Luffy kept on babbling.

"Hey, let's go meet him. If he's Jinbei's friend he's my friend too."

"Don't get so excited, Lu. Jinbei said he didn't part with him on good terms, remember? Also he was supposed to be horribly racist against humans."

Luffy stopped smiling and contemplated about it.

"Yes, that's true. But I still want to meet him. That way we can tell Jinbei what he's been up to since they split up."

"You're the captain." Sabo shrugged.

"Ne, navigator lady, are you part of Arlong's crew? Na? You okay?" Luffy finally noticed the proverbial dark cloud over the girl's head.

Nami was quiet for a moment before she raised her head.

"Take my advice and stay away from Arlong." She said ominously.

"Nah? Why?" Luffy whined.

"Trust me you do not want to meet Arlong." Nami said, her face still staring down.

"Well, whatever. I'm still meeting him. Anyway, are you going to him anyway?" Luffy didn't wait for an answer. "Yes? Good. We'll travel together while we're at it."

Luffy just snickered as Nami gaped at him disbelievingly.

"Don't make up your mind by yourself!" She screamed at him once she had regained her composure.

"Do you have something against traveling with us miss Nami? I assure while we're pirates we're still perfect gentlemen towards women. You have no need worrying about us taking advantage of you in your sleep." Sabo said politely.

Nami humphed.

"We're also strong. You've no need to worry about being overpowered in an attack." Luffy said and patted his bicep.

"I would never voluntarily team up with pirates… but for our common goal, we'll work together… for once."

Sabo didn't point out that she was part of Arlong's crew. He sensed that it was a very sore subject for the girl.

"But all the money I loot is mine!" She said after Luffy cheered.

"What you loot is yours, what I loot is mine. Whoever gets to it first gets it." Luffy said, still very jolly.

"I can live with that."

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><p>"Oh hey look, a pirate vessel!" Luffy exclaimed at the speck in the distance.<p>

"Right you are." Sabo said as he took out his telescope.

"Let's loot it!" Nami and Luffy said, both excited for the treasure it would be sure to hold.

Sabo smiled.

"You're in luck, miss Nami. We ran out of meat some time ago."

"Meeeat~" Luffy sighed dreamily and started salivating.

"Eh?" Nami asked, confused.

"Luffy's very good at obtaining money, whether it be looting or pickpocketing, however the one thing he appreciates more than treasure is food. His favorite is meat, which we ran out of as I said before." Sabo chuckled and looked Luffy, whose stomach was growling loudly now. "He's much more likely to head to their kitchen than treasury, so you'd better hurry if you want everything."

Nami nodded.

"What about you?"

Sabo gave a mysterious smile and then… "I have a big appetite too." Nami sweatdropped "And don't worry, we've already promised on 'you snooze you loose' policy, and we rarely ever break our promises."

"We're here guys." Luffy said.

Luffy stretched his hand at the railing and pulled himself up.

"What the…!" Nami exclaimed. She'd forgotten he could do that, in favor of fearing for her life.

"Hmm? Oh, I guess we didn't explain before, did we? Luffy has eaten a Devil's Fruit- the gomu-gomu no mi. He's a rubber man."

"Are you serious? I thought it was just a myth."

At that time Luffy threw a rope overboard so they could tie up their boat.

"Please hold on to me, miss Nami." Sabo said and didn't wait for her reply as he wrapped an arm around her.

"Hey, what the hell are you…?"

Nami couldn't finish her sentence as Luffy grabbed ahold of Sabo's free outreached hand and pulled the two of them up. Once they were up Nami bonked them both on the head.

"Tell me before you do something like this!" She raged. "Huh? Where'd they go?"

Nami didn't notice when they had sprinted towards the kitchen- they had been _that_ fast. She just shrugged, and made her way to where she hoped was the treasury. She only hoped none of the crew members were awake at this point.

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><p>"Maaaan, this meat is <em>good<em>!" Luffy exclaimed, extremely satisfied and patted his slightly extended belly.

"Mm-hmm, I haven't had this kind of crocodile meat since we left East Blue." Sabo agreed.

Suddenly they heard a commotion coming from above.

"Na? Wonder what's going on up there?" Luffy wondered.

"Likely our little vixen got caught." Sabo responded. "I suppose it's our due to go."

"I'm taking all the meat with me." Luffy said as he stood up.

"Amen to that. Hmm? Oh look what's here. I'll take this barrel of grog." Sabo said and lifted the barrel on his muscular shoulder.

"Good thinking, Sabo. I'm in the mood for celebration!"

Luffy and Sabo made it to the deck to see Nami being restrained by two thugs while a third -captain, judging by the appearance- reached out his hands and placed them on the navigator's chest.

The next thing that happened was the same man slamming face first into the ground, Luffy and Sabo were standing over him both having one foot on the back of the man's head.

"Such coarse behavior." Sabo said, his voice taking on a cracked quality from held back fury.

"A man should _never_ raise a hand to touch a woman intimately without their consent." Luffy added, his voice sounding similar.

As one Luffy and Sabo threw a punch, both one's fist making a connection with the two men holding Nami respectively, and knocking them out cold. The crew looked on with gaping mouths.

"They took out Shame and Shade with a single punch and crushed captain under their feet." They exclaimed in unison.

"Is that all the loot these pirates had, Nami?" Luffy asked, momentarily distracted by the bag next to Nami's feet, all the while completely ignoring the dozens of gaping pirates surrounding them.

"A-ah yeah. They didn't have too much, and what they did wasn't very good quality anyway." Nami said, a bit disappointed.

"Really? That's too bad. They had really good meat." Luffy said with a grin and shook the lumps of meaty goods he was still holding with one hand (Sabo was still holding the barrel on his shoulder too).

Suddenly the man underneath them started to shake and attempted to stand up. Luffy and Sabo backed up to let him do that and started to lead Nami towards their small boat.

"How dare you two brats? Do you have no idea who I am? I'm 'Gold-Finger' Flammy, the dreaded captain of Flammy pirates. My bounty is 9 million. You've sealed your fate crossing claws with me- LISTEN TO ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU! AND WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT MY SHIP LIKE THAT FOR?"

Indeed Luffy had been curiously taking in every detail of the ship, as if trying to size it up for something.

"Nah, I don't want it." He exclaimed finally "It looks too yellow for my tastes."

A vein throbbed on Flammy's forehead.

"What the hell did you say, brat?" He asked, while attempting to cork his fury.

Luffy turned to look at the East Blue pirate captain.

"You're wearing too much yellow too." He said innocently, making the captain loose his temper even more.

"It's gold, GOLD, you stupid little brat! It's the glorious lifeblood that drives all pirates!"

"Looks like yellow to me. What do you think, Sabo?"

"Yellow." He confirmed with a nod.

Nami sweatdropped as the captain screamed out in fury and trampled his feet like a toddler throwing a tantrum.

"A-are you sure you need to piss him off like this? He does have a bounty of 9 million, plus a crew." She said nervously.

The apparently bipolar captain gave the three a bloodthirsty leer.

"That's right, you're pathetically outnumbered. You should be begging for mercy."

Luffy and Sabo broke into laughter making the captain angry again.

"What are you laughing at, shitty brats?"

"Ooh, yes I agree. We're pathetically outnumbered." Sabo said while wiping tear from the corner of his eye. "But _you_ are pathetically outmatched." Luffy added.

_About__ 2 minutes later._

"Whoo, that was fun!" Luffy said as the three were sailing away from the ship with a completely decimated crew and a broken mainmast.

"I thought it was a bit dull. I hoped they would've lasted a bit longer. But oh well, we dragged it out as much as we could." Sabo said with a shrug.

"_That_ was dragged out?" Nami said, still in shock after what she had seen. These two men looked to be as strong as Arlong.

"Yeah, East Blue is the weakest of all seven seas." Luffy said.

"Seven?" Nami echoed, confused "There are only five."

"Technically there are eight." Sabo shook his head.

"The four Blues and Grand Line." Nami said "Where are the other three?"

"There are the four Blues, and Grand Line. And two Calm Belts, often mistakenly thought of as a part of Grand Line. But anyone who's been there would beg to differ."

Nami nodded. "Okay, I can respect that. That's seven, so where's the eighth?"

"The Grand Line is in two parts." Sabo explained.

"Eh? Two parts?"

"Correct. The first half of Grand Line is called Paradise, but the second half is called New World. That's eight."

"Paradise? New World?"

"Yes. Allow me to explain how the entirety of Grand Line works, miss Nami. You see, all the pirates you've heard who return broken from Grand Line are those who couldn't cut it in the first half of Grand Line- Paradise. The first half is like a survival course, it weeds out the weak and only the ones who have true potential make it to the end. The pirates who are not strong enough either die or return with their souls broken by stronger foes."

Luffy started cackling. Nami sent the younger brother an odd look, surprised to hear such an ominous sound from the usually light hearted man.

"But the real battle, miss Nami, starts from New World. All the weaklings have been weeded out, so the only ones who are left are the insanely strong ones. The ones who make any sort of waves in New World are considered the most dangerous men in the world, be them pirates, revolutionary, bounty hunters, or even marines. Usually if you're potentially not as dangerous as 100 million you might as well give up on New World." Sabo explained.

"100 million!" Nami's mouth dropped open. "How do you know for sure?"

"Duh, we're from Grand Line." Luffy said like it should've been obvious.

Nami freaked out. "Y-y-you two!"

The two grinned.

"The reason why the first half is called Paradise is the strong, but not strong enough, who travel to New World often want to return to the 'paradise' that was the first half of Grand Line." Sabo said with a chuckle.

"So what's your bounty, since being from Grand Line and pirates you're sure to have one."

"360 million." Sabo replied casually.

"Hey let's have a drink!" Luffy said while opening the grog barrel, intent on avoiding giving an answer.

Nami's mouth fell open again (her jaw was starting to hurt).

Suddenly a proverbial light bulb lit above Nami's head.

"Wait a minute. You said that the weak won't survive. Why are you back? Too weak?"

The brothers didn't take offence, but only chuckled.

"Nope. I'm here to recruit my own nakama and start my own pirate crew. After that I'll return to Grand Line, nah here ya go Nami-chan." Luffy said and handed Nami a mug of grog.

"I see. What about Luffy? With such a fancy bounty and still following this guy his bounty must be even more impressive." Nami knew she probably shouldn't sound so sly, but she couldn't help it. Thankfully Sabo didn't seem to take the least bit offense, instead laughing it off in good humor. Luffy however looked mighty depressed all of a sudden.

"I'm not a part of his crew. As an older brother I naturally worry, so I took a slight vacation from my old crew and now I'm just chaperoning him until I can rejoin my captain."

"Ace wanted to come too, but he's too famous and has too many responsibilities back at pops' ship." Luffy said and helped himself a second mugful of grog.

"Ace?"

"Luffy and I have one more brother, but being who he is it's not too good an idea for him to even leave Grand Line. It might cause mass panic."

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><p>The three had been quietly sailing towards Konomi Island. Well sort of quietly, since they looted every pirate ship and snuck to eat on any cruise ship that crossed their path. Navy ships were ignored since they didn't want to pull any attention towards themselves. Nami was in an extremely good mood, since traveling with the two powerhouses from Grand Line she was just a fraction away from her goal of 100 million beli.<p>

"Ne, ne, Nami-chan. Is that your home island?" Luffy asked, excited.

Suddenly Nami's good mood plummeted. She had been through a bunch of good times with these boys and she reluctantly admitted she had grown a bit fond of them.

"Luffy, Sabo, can I ask you not to meet with Arlong?"

"Haaah? Why not?" Luffy sulked.

"Arlong doesn't like humans. The only ones he tolerates are the corrupt marines he can buy off and… me. And that's only because I'm an excellent cartographer."

"It's okay. We still want to meet with him anyway."

Nami sighed.

She could only hope the boys were strong enough to make their escape before they were too late, but for now their fate was in their own hands.

The group docked near Cocoyashi Village and departed from each other. Nami didn't know where the boys went to, but she went straight to Arlong Park. She walked into Arlong Park and was immediately greeted by the humongous sawshark fishman.

"Aa, you're back, Nami. Sure's been awile. How was your trip this time?"

"Quite productive. I managed tons." Nami replied airily, showing off the bag with money in it. Arlong laughed.

"Hey brothers, Nami has returned! Get ready to celebrate!" Arlong shouted jovially. The fishmen shouted out cheerfully.

"But there's one thing I find a bit troubling, Nami." Arlong started slyly.

"Hmm? What?"

"A little birdie whispered in my ear that you did not return to this island alone. Did you bring some bounty hunters with you? Are you planning on betraying me?" He jeerer mockingly.

Nami's heart skipped a beat. She had not planned on saying anything, hoping those two would wizen up and leave after seeing the condition the island was in, but now lying through her teeth was a bad idea.

"Yes that's true I arrived here with someone, but they're not bounty hunters. They're just a couple of men who claimed to know a friend of yours and said they wanted to meet you. I don't know what they want from you exactly."

"Tch, you _are _trying to betray Arlong-san, aren't you Nami? I bet you thought that those puny humans were strong and secretly hoped they would beat him, huh?" Kuroobi, the ray fishman, accused. Nami snorted.

"Are you a moron? I admit they're strong and had absolutely no trouble taking out entire crews of pirates just by themselves, but do you honestly think I'm naïve enough to think they can fight you and _win_? Besides I'm so close to my goal of the promised 100 million beli it would serve no purpose." Nami mocked back.

"Shahahahaha. She's got you there, Kuroobi." Arlong laughed jovially. Kuroobi grunted, reluctantly agreeing, but still feeling a tad edgy.

"Well, it's quite rude to let our guests wait, isn't it? Why didn't you invite them inside, Nami?" Arlong asked.

"They wandered off on their own. Besides, it would be rude to invite them in without the master of the house's permission." Nami said and just waved her hand.

"Well then. Let's go and greet them." Arlong got up from his seat.

Nami set her steps towards the tangerine farm.

Arlong did some dealings at Arlong Park before he collected some of his brethren and made his way to Cocoyashi Village where he last heard the strangers to be.

* * *

><p>Luffy and Sabo walked into town, Luffy with a spring in his step.<p>

"What a quaint little town." Sabo mentioned. "But the people here seem to have a kind of repressed air about them."

"Yeah, I sense it too. I wonder what's causing it."

Luffy and Sabo had both more or less mastered haki. Sabo was skilled at both kenbunshoku and busoshoku haki, and used both equally in battle. Luffy used both just as well, however unlike Sabo he also possessed haoshoku haki, and that he still had not fully mastered. He could use it of course, but his focus was still off.

Using kenbunshoku they could 'hear' people's 'body and soul voices'… and they sounded pretty damned depressed.

"They kind of remind me a bit of tenryuubito's slaves." Luffy mentioned, no longer skipping, the townspeople's aura rubbing off on him.

"It's a little similar, but they're not nearly as bad off. These people have a glimmer of hope whilst the slaves were already dead inside."

Luffy nodded.

"Oh look, a bar! Let's have a drink." Luffy said, cheering up to his previous self instantly.

"Shanks has been a bad influence on you, Luffy. We're here for a reason, y'know."

"Hey why not? I'm not going to leave this island until I have Nami as my navigator anyway, so we're in no hurry."

"Nami said she's Arlong's cartographer, remember?"

"So?"

"…"

"…"

"You're paying."

"S'not like you have too much money on you anyway."

Sabo snorted and they entered the pub. The bartender would almost cry at the amount of money he was going to make off these strangers. That was until Arlong walked into his humble bar.

"I heard you were looking for me." He said, a cruel glint in his eyes.

"You're Arlong?" Luffy asked seriously, his eyes shaded by the edge of his straw hat.

"Aye, that I am."

Luffy's face stretched into a grin.

"Have a seat, why don't we have a drink!"

All the fishmen and humans' (except Sabo's) eyes nearly popped out of their skulls.

"What did you say?" Arlong asked, not positive he heard it correctly.

"He invited you to have a drink with us." Sabo said calmly.

He noticed immediately how the people seemed to hush and their spirits dropped drastically when the sawshark fishman walked through the threshold. Could it be that fishmen were the reason why these people seemed to be so repressed?

"And what makes you think that I would want to drink with you?" Arlong said lowly, but cautiously. Arlong was smart. At first glance the two didn't look any different than your average humans, but living in the Grand Line all your life you develop an extra sense towards people who are an actual threat. Arlong didn't know who those two kids were, but he could tell they were strong- stronger than anyone in East Blue should be.

"Eeeh? You don't want to have a drink with us?"

Arlong stared as the younger human's eyes went impossibly large. What was wrong with that person? Arlong _almost_ found it cute! Almost.

"I wanted to have a drink with one of Jinbei's old nakama, but he doesn't want to." The straw hat wearing boy sulked into his mug.

Arlong's eyes widened.

"Jinbei? You know Jinbei?" He exclaimed in surprise. The rest of his crew was in a similar state of shock.

"Sure, he's a good friend of mine." Luffy exclaimed with a wide grin. Now Arlong was sure he was jesting.

"Liar! Jinbei wouldn't ever befriend humans, he despises them."

The smile slipped from the boy's face.

"What are you talking about? Are you an idiot?" He said and cocked his head in confusion. Arlong almost lost his temper there until the boy continued. "Sure Jinbei doesn't like most humans, especially pirates and the world's nobles ("Who does?" Sabo muttered), but he's never outright hated them. He's still friends with me and my brothers though."

Now that Arlong thought about it Jinbei, and Fisher Tiger too actually, had always favored Whitebeard pirates. Those two definitely seemed strong enough to be a part of his crew.

"Are you two… member's of Whitebeard pirates by any chance?" Arlong asked not only shocking his brethren but also the odd human sitting in the pub.

The straw hat boy grinned widely, while the top hat boy remained passive.

"I used to be. I'm in East Blue to start my own pirate crew." He said with a wide grin.

"I never heard of a Whitebeard's pirate abandoning the old man. Won't he kill you for that?" Arlong asked, but was surprised when _both _humans burst out laughing.

"Every one of Whitebeard's pirates are free to leave any time they wish with no consequences from pops. Just no one wants to." The older of the pair replied.

Arlong was silent for a moment, before making up his mind.

"I think I'll have a drink with you guys after all. I'd like to hear how's that old whale's doing." Arlong declared, completely shocking the nearby humans, but only mildly surprising his brethren, since they'd already guessed they weren't really dealing with normal humans.

"You, human, get my crew and I some alcohol… for free." He said at the terrified barman.

"Hey, hey now, that's rude! I'm paying!" Luffy exclaimed jovially.

"How kind of you." Arlong said with a leer.

* * *

><p>Luffy, Sabo and the fishmen had been enjoying their drinks for some time when they were interrupted by a scream outside.<p>

"Aaarlooong!"

Was that Nami?

The group of mermen plus Luffy and Sabo went outside. They saw the ginger woman nearly frothing in anger.

"How dare you?" She screamed angrily. "How dare you go back on you promise?"

Arlong hummed.

"Hmm? When exactly did I go back on my promise?"

Sabo did not like the sly tone Arlong had. Luffy looked between the fishman and the woman he was determined would become his navigator. Luffy _did_ notice the unusual tension when Arlong had walked into the bar, but chose to ignore it at that time. Should he have paid more attention after all?

"Y-you! You used that marine to take my money away from me, didn't you?" Nami screamed. The commotion had people starting to come out of their houses.

"Like I said, when exactly did I break my promise?"

"Don't play innocent! You ordered those-" Nami never could finish her sentence as Arlong grabbed her by the mouth and a good portion of neck. Arlong laughed cruelly.

"The marines? You're very unfortunate, but a promise is a promise. If you can't get 100 million beli, I won't give you back the village."

Nami cursed Arlong through her tears.

"But it's okay. That 100 million… you can collect it any time for me." Arlong's merciless eyes looking into Nami's. "Or do you want to leave this island? Pay in mind I will kill everyone in this village if you do." Arlong let Nami go. "So, Nami. Are ya thinking of getting out of here?"

At that moment a man with a pinwheel tucked to his hat ran into view.

"That is enough! Everybody let's get our weapons and fight!" He yelled.

"Ho, a mutiny?" Arlong asked, amused.

"Wait!" Nami screamed and smile through her tears. "Everyone please be patient! I will try to collect the money again, okay? It will not be difficult at all this time."

The pinwheel man put a hand on Nami's shoulder and shook his head.

"This is their answer. There is no way they will ever let our village go. They just want to play with Nami-chan's feelings. We've prepared for the possibility of fighting them for a long time."

Arlong threw his powerful fist at pinwheel-man's face… but he never hit his target.

"**Wait a moment here!" **Luffy said, his voice literally making shivers go up everyone's spines, going so far to actually make a few people loose their footing. What surprised the villagers, especially the people who had seen Luffy being buddy-buddy with Arlong at the bar, was Arlong's fist caught in his palm.

"Let me get some facts straight here. Nami needs to collect 100 million beli to buy this village from Arlong. _Why exactly_?"

The pinwheel man answered.

"Eight years ago Arlong's group took over this whole island. Each month we have to pay 100,000 beli per adult and 50,000 beli per child. _Buy our lives. _If one person in the entire village cannot afford it, the entire village is decimated. Arlong made a deal with Nami-chan. While she would make him maps she would collect 100 million beli, buying this village and therefore our freedom."

Luffy's mouth slightly fell open. A shadow fell on his eyes and he let go of Arlong's fist.

"I see… So Jinbei's worst case scenario is a reality." He said, his voice low and owning a dangerous quality. It reminded Nami of the time he beat up that pervy gold-obsessed captain.

"Arlong. I'm going to have to beat you up." He said seriously.

Arlong's crew laughed and mocked him… until Arlong told them to can it.

"Arlong-san?" His crew inquired, surprised.

"These boys are not to be taken lightly. They're New World pirates and former members of Whitebeard's crew. Beating them will not be as easy as those marines we've been dealing with here."

People gasped hearing the name of the current greatest pirate alive. Nami was surprised too. She had not been aware of _that_.

Luffy cracked his knuckles.

"Oh, before we start, I have something I need to say to you." Luffy said and his demeanor slightly lightened momentarily. "Shirley sends her love.*****"

A look of surprise made itself at home on Arlong's face before his expression morphed into the softest look Nami had _ever_ seen on the fishman.

"How is Shirley doing?" He asked, his voice uncharacteristically mild.

"As creepy as ever."

"As pretty as ever."

Luffy and Sabo said at the same time.

The strange soft look on Arlong disappeared. He was back as the same cruel Arlong he's always been.

Before the townspeople knew what happened Kuroobi was next to Luffy and throwing a punch at him. Luffy didn't even look at him as he grabbed ahold of his fist.

"Weaklings should really stay out of this fight." He said dangerously and lightly, well seemingly lightly, swatted at him with his fist limp. Seemingly lightly, because Kuroobi flew through a nearby house at neck breaking speed******.

"Kuroobi!" His comrades exclaimed and a pink octopus fishman took a step forward.

"I will avenge Kuroobi." He sobbed angrily, and waved six swords around.

Luffy looked at the fishman and something dinged in his mind.

"You… Are you Hatchan?" He asked.

The octopus looked taken aback for a moment.

"You've heard of me? People usually call me Hachi." He asked while pointing three thumbs at himself.

Luffy was quiet for a moment.

"Tell me Hachi. Why are you with Arlong and terrorizing these humans?" Luffy asked seriously.

Hachi didn't even manage to answer as his comrades burst out laughing and started spewing racist talk.

"I see, so you think all humans are scum, beneath you, and not even fit to breathe the same air as you." Luffy stated.

"Yes, that's true." Hachi nodded. That was all Luffy needed.

"Does that include Rayleigh?" He asked in a harsh tone.

Hachi looked like he had been slapped in the face with a rock… by his first crush.

"R-Rayleigh-san…" He stuttered and suddenly looked extremely ashamed.

"He has always been so nice to me…" He muttered to himself and honestly looked like he was about to cry.

"Chu~" A fishman spit water at Nami, but it was intercepted by Sabo who had whipped a bo staff out of his coat. He expertly spun it in a circle, making it into a shield for moment before gracefully swinging it at the ground making a large fissure run starting from Sabo to where Chuu was standing, making the smelt-whiting fishman stumble and jump away to regain his footing. He wasn't fast enough, unfortunately, as the next thing he knew the tip of the staff had been shoved into his stomach painfully. He dropped to all fours and started hacking, unable to breathe from the extremely strong blow. He was knocked out when Sabo hit the back of his head with his staff.

"Amazing…" Nami whispered, admiring a fellow staff-user whose skills were so impossibly superior to hers. This was the first time she's seen him draw a weapon, further showing how little of a threat he saw normal East Blue pirates to be.

Suddenly a loud bang caught Nami's attention. That and a gust of wind accompanied by _lots_ of dust. Once the dust had settled a bit she gaped at Arlong and Luffy. Luffy looked a little rugged, minorly scratched at most. Arlong looked like he was struggling to keep standing up.

"No way." She whispered, hardly believing what she was seeing. Arlong was _loosing_!

"You really are a hypocrite, Arlong." Luffy said. "You preach how all humans hate fishmen because that's what their parents instill into them since birth. How are _you_ any better?"

Luffy disappeared.

"_What_?" Nami thought.

Luffy reappeared again above Arlong and threw another impossibly powerful punch at the sawshark fishman, making another loud boom, and forcing him to make a crater in the ground. Arlong was very durable, however, so he still managed to push himself up. Luffy, who didn't like attacking an enemy, who wasn't standing, gave him a moment to regain his footing.

"You're as bad as a tenryuubito." He said once Arlong was standing again.

As soon as he said that a look of surprise crossed his face and the fishmen gaped. The humans didn't know what to make out of it, especially since straw hat boy's friend also yelled out. Luffy raised a hand.

"No, I apologize. That was uncalled for." Luffy said and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "You're no doubt the worst fishman I've ever met, but calling you as bad as one of the tenryuubito is far too harsh. I'm sorry." And he did sound remorseful.

Arlong snorted.

"Aren't you humans supposed to worship those things?" He asked venomously while wiping blood from his lip.

"The tenryuubito are revered… assholes. They're the worst scum in the world. Being completely immune to any form of 'justice' has made them more corrupt than a pit full of sea king shit. No one who has had an encounter with them likes them, but there's nothing much anyone can do against those nepotists. You can believe me when I say I hate them as much as you do."

There was complete silence among the living beings; the only sound visible was the wind rustling treetops.

Then Arlong attacked Luffy with his saw-like nose. He used it like a saber and with harsh, sudden motions tried to stab Luffy. Key word being 'trying' here, as Luffy expertly avoided every thrust with graceful moves. Seeing him move like that was actually quite beautiful.

"It is time to end this. _Gomu-Gomu no Gatling Gun_." Luffy rained a series of powerful punches at Arlong in a rapid speed. Luffy stopped his punches and jumped above Arlong's head and delivered the finishing blow. He jumped a few meters away and glanced at Sabo, who had successfully disabled the rest of the fishmen by himself.

"Sorry, Arlong, but this was for Jinbei, who will no doubt feel so guilty after he hears what you've been doing here in East Blue… and also for making Nami cry."

After he said that people started cheering. They screamed to send messages throughout the island that Arlong had finally fallen. Their jubilee was cut short when the marines arrived.

"Stop right there!" Yelled a voice that fancied itself authoritive.

The townspeople turned to look at the corrupt marine, hatred shining in the eyes of every single one.

"This must be my lucky day. I had a chance to see this fight to the end. No one would believe a bunch of no-name pirates took out a gang of fishmen." He laughed a mouse-like laugh, apparently having missed Arlong declaring them Whitebeard's underlings. "Because of you every single one of Arlong's beli shall belong to _me_! I, Captain Nezumi of unit 16, am happy to accept all the treasure!" He shouted out dramatically.

He was brought out of his high when Sabo rammed his staff at the back of his knee, effectively breaking it. Nezumi yelled out in pain, surprise and protest. He quieted down when a shadow fell over him. He looked up to see the silhouette of an ominous figure.

"This is for shooting Nojiko and destroying Bellemere's orange farm." She said and used her own collapsible staff to beat the $#*! out of him.

"After getting rid of these fishmen, you're going to help rebuild Goza Village that was recently decimated. You have _no_ right to touch the money because it belongs to the villagers… Ah, and one more thing…"

Nami grabbed the beaten up marine's cheek in a painful pinch. The marine captain protested but no help came, as no villager would stand up for him and his underlings had been subdued by the freakishly strong brothers.

"_Give me back my money._" Nami said, her voice demonic. Nezumi could only gulp and nod.

When that was over Luffy grabbed Hachi by his shirt.

"I'm doing this as a personal favor to Rayleigh." He said and swung Hachi into the ocean, giving him a chance to retain his freedom.

* * *

><p>"Pleeeease?"<p>

"No."

"Preeety pleeeaaaseee?"

"No."

It was hours later into the celebration, and Luffy was trying to convince Sabo into an eating and/or drinking competition. No sane (or even insane) person would _ever _accept a challenge to _that_.

"Oh look, there's Nami." Sabo tried a distraction tactic, which always worked on Luffy better than a charm.

"Nami-chan!" Luffy yelled cheerfully. "Na? You've got a bandage on your shoulder. Did you hurt yourself?" Luffy asked.

"Its fine, Luffy-san, I just got Arlong's tattoo removed and another one in its stead." She said with a smile.

"Hey Nami, now that you're not part of his gang anymore, how about becoming my navigator?" Luffy asked with a wide grin.

Nami didn't say anything and Luffy took it as a 'no', so he naturally gave her The Look. Nami cracked a small smile.

"_If_ you can drink me under the table. It would be embarrassing to have a captain that can't hold his liquor." She said and Luffy whooped.

Sabo left the pair to their drinking and went for a walk, as the outcome would be obvious. It was a nice night and he felt like stretching his legs so he went wherever his feet took him. And they took him to a cliff with a beautiful view of the ocean. Sabo noticed there was someone already there.

"You're miss Nami's sister, right?" He asked once he arrived next to her. He noticed she has sitting in front of a grave. "Pardon me for being curious, but did someone die, recently? From Arlong's attack?" He asked.

Nojiko shook her head.

"This is Bellemere's grave. She was killed by Arlong eight years ago."

"Bellemere? I recall Nami mentioning that name when she gave that marine the stick." He scratched his chin, trying to remember what it was exactly Nami said.

"She was mine and Nami mother."

"Oh. I'm sorry for your loss." Sabo said.

"It's okay. She's been avenged now. She used to be a marine y'know."

"Did she now?"

Nojiko proceeded to tell Sabo about her history with Nami and Bellemere. She told him how they were found by the female marine and then raised by her, going as far as telling a few silly things she and Nami, especially Nami, did when they were kids. And finally how she died.

"… so Arlong shot her. She died because she refused to deny she had daughters." Nojiko finished. Sabo nodded.

"I can understand that better than most people. I have two brothers but I am not related to them by blood either."

"Really? You have a strong physical resemblance to Luffy." Nojiko mentioned, a bit surprised.

"Thank you!" Sabo barked uncharacteristically loud, slightly startling Nojiko. "My apologies, but it's usually Luffy and Ace that visually look like brothers, not me."

Nojiko laughed.

"How about you, Sabo-san? Were you adopted as well?"

"Please, just call me Sabo. And no, my story is quite different from yours…"

Sabo ended up telling Nojiko everything up until the time he and his brothers left their birth island, only omitting minor facts… such as his two brothers' parentage, letting it seem like they were just a couple of orphans.

* * *

><p>Luffy was grinning a wide smile as he gave Nami a glass of water as she knocked back some aspirin.<p>

"I don't get it. I have an insane alcohol tolerance but you managed to drink me under the table like it was nothing. You barely looked buzzed." Nami glared at the man she had promised could become her captain. "You cheated didn't you!" She accused.

Luffy laughed infectiously. "Nope I didn't. A few years ago I ran into doku-doku no mi user. I got a lethal dose of his poison and had to go an excruciating healing process. Now I have an out of this world resistance, if not outright immunity, towards poison. Unfortunately that also affected my alcohol tolerance." Luffy's smile faded into a pout. "It's pretty annoying sometimes to have to drink a whole barrel of strong alcohol to even begin feeling affects."

A vein throbbed on Nami's forehead.

"That was totally unfair! That bet's null!"

Luffy shook his head.

"You're the one who made that bet before getting all the details. I won fair and square." Luffy stuck his tongue out at Nami. "By the way, have you seen Sabo anywhere? He's been missing since last night."

"I'm sure he'll turn up eventually. I don't think there's anyone here who would or _could_ kidnap him even if he was heavily intoxicated."

"Sabo doesn't like getting drunk very much, so I doubt he drank too much anyway."

Nami and Luffy walked into Nami's house at the tangerine farm. In there they both almost fell over from the surprise. Sabo and Nojiko were sleeping… in the same bed… naked… and spooning.

"I think I'm kind of hungry." Luffy said flatly.

"Yeah, Morinaka-san makes killer meatbuns, and I think I would like some now too."

As one they turned around and left the house.

* * *

><p>Luffy and Nami had already stuffed themselves (well, Nami had, Luffy was in the process) when they were joined by their older siblings.<p>

"Enjoy yourself last night?" Nami asked with a sly tone.

"Hey!" Luffy protested as Sabo stole his meat.

"I quite did." Sabo said like he was discussing weather.

Nojiko sent Nami a grin and winked, though her cheeks were slightly dusted pink.

Their reunion was interrupted by a 'coo' sound from above.

"Oh, a news coo. Wonder if there's anything interesting." Sabo said and went to retrieve the paper. Luffy used the opportunity to steal his food back.

"Anything noteworthy?" Nojiko asked when Sabo leafed through the paper.

"Aside from a bounty on miss Nami's head, not really." Sabo replied, still as if talking about weather.

"Whaaaaaat!" Nami screamed.

There was an article that was surprisingly accurate. It was more or less about not very well known, but still dangerous, Straw Hat Luffy recruiting a group of people in East Blue. Nami's bounty was 10 million, because she had 'assaulted and defeated a marine captain cold-heartedly'.

"The picture is not too bad though." Nojiko consoled her depressed sister.

"What the hell, Nojiko? It's not cute at all." Nami wailed.

"I like it." Luffy said. "Me too." Sabo agreed.

"This can't get any worse." Nami said, depressed.

"Look at the bright side, Nami-chan. Think about all the marines and snooty rich people you'll steal treasure from. It'll easily be enough to buy ten fur-lined coats, for example." Luffy buttered.

"If you don't eat all of it…" Sabo muttered.

Luffy sent his brother a look.

"If the bill gets too much you know I usually eat-and-run."

Sabo laughed out loud.

"Aw man, does _that_ bring back memories."

And that was how Luffy gained his first nakama.

* * *

><p><strong>PPS: this is actually chapter 2. Chapter 1 was Sabo contemplating past events during Whitebeard's banquet, but it turned out <strong>**Horrible****. There are some important past events I wanted to mention, but I think it's better to integrate them into later chapters. Don't worry, you won't be missing anything… except Marco putting poison into Luffy's grog just for shits and giggles.**

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading.<strong>

**Please give me your honest opinion. Either about the plot, my wri****ting style, grammar, spelling.**

**And I do mean honest opinion. But please, flames are a waste of my and your time.**** Except if you're a troll with no life.**

**I have 2 more chapters written and I shall post the next one in a week or if I can get 20 reviews!**

*** Shirley is ****not**** an OC. THIS IS A SPOILER those who haven't read the manga: Shirley is Arlong's little sister.**

******** I was imagining Ulquiorra 'swatting' Yammy away when they made first appearance at the show (Bleach, if you didn't get it).**

**Word count:**** 8425**


	2. Recruiting the Swordsman

**Disclaimer: ****If you think I actually own One Piece… you've got serious problems in the head.**

**Summary: Sabo was saved by Dragon when the tenryuubito, Saint Jalmack, shot his boat. He, Ace, and Luffy went out to the sea together at age 17/14. What would happen to our beloved Straw Hats if they had a captain who had experienced Grand Line once already?**

**Warnings: slight OOCness, language, bad gay jokes, some violence.**

**Pairing: nothing permanent between main characters, start reviewing if you want something bad (but no LuNa).**

**A/N: I got a small confession to make. I have no real plan for the story I just swing it.**

**Question: this chapter may have a bit too dirty language, but do you think it's enough to bump it from T to M?**

**Posted: 24.08.11**

* * *

><p>Luffy, Sabo, and Nami had sailed for one day before something noteworthy happened. Luffy had made a comment that annoyed Nami so she bonked him upside the head. The next thing Nami knew she was hanging upside down from the mast, rope digging into her flesh uncomfortably.<p>

"Hey, what the hell…?" She screamed, but silenced when she noticed the dangerous look on Luffy's face.

"Nami." He started and Nami gulped, he didn't sound happy. "I'm a relatively easygoing guy. I don't mind if people scream at me or call me names. I usually laugh it off. However, what I can not stand is someone hurting my friends… and I also can not accept blatant disrespect from my nakama. What kind of captain would I be if I let the people I care about abuse me and therefore completely loose respect?"

Luffy took a breath.

"I won't do anything if you have an impressive reason to strike me. Which you _did not_ just a moment ago. I'm afraid I need to punish you for this." He finished, and he really did not look happy to do this.

"You didn't seem to mind a few days ago." Nami said, remembering the times she hit him on the head.

"I was not your captain back then." Luffy said simply. "You're going to hang there until your nose starts to bleed."

Nami accepted her punishment in silence, the atmosphere tense. Nami didn't like being punished, but at least this assured her Luffy was actually captain material, despite being so silly and easygoing most of the time.

* * *

><p>It had been about four days since the incident and the atmosphere had finally reverted to normal.<p>

"Look! Cruise ship!" Luffy shouted excitedly.

Nami wasn't surprised. Despite his carelessness and selective naivety her captain was damn good at spotting ships from afar. Sabo said it's because Luffy liked how the ocean looked and spent a good portion of his time admiring it.

"I'm guessing you want to eat again, cap'n?" Nami ventured.

"Yep, and it's about time I start looking for a ship more actively too. What do you think about this one?" He replied.

Nami shook her head.

"It's slow, difficult to maneuver in, doesn't have a cannon… shall I continue?"

Luffy scratched his head sheepishly.

"Shame. I kind of like how it looks. Though it is a bit… bulky for my tastes."

The three secretly stowed away. The men headed straight to the food pantry, but Nami decided she wanted to enjoy the party. It wasn't much about the dancing; she just wanted to pickpocket the jewelry from richer guests.

They were all enjoying their stay on the ship when, as luck would have it, it was ambushed by a pirate ship. Nami grinned gleefully. More treasure for her and her captain! She went into position to sneak into the enemy pirate ship once the majority of the other pirate crew was looting this cruise ship. Sabo and Luffy would get her if she were to get in over her head, which was unlikely. But man was it nice to have backup!

* * *

><p>Luffy and Sabo were eating in the pantry when they hear a careful voice call out from beyond the door.<p>

"Helloo? Is someone here?"

The brothers looked at each other. Was it another foodnapper? No official worker would act so timid.

"No one's here. Oh thank god." It continued. "There's a lot of barrels here…"

The brothers shrugged, and continued eating, letting the nervous owner of the voice do whatever it wanted. If it wanted some free grog then who were they to stop him? They continued pigging out until they heard new voices next door.

"Hey you coward-boy! Whacha doin' here? Hidin' and doing nothin' again?" A decidedly rougher voice than before barked.

"N-n-n-no! O-of course not! I-I was just rolling this barrel of alcohol…" The owned of the timid voice squeaked.

There was laughing heard.

"We'll help ya lighten yer load." The rough-voice man said.

"We're a bit thirsty here." A second guy said.

"Mm? Are there bullies outside?" Luffy asked while munching on an apple.

"Sounds like it. And it sounds like they actually might be pirates. I wonder when this ship fell under siege." Sabo mused out loud.

"Ooh! Do you think they have a good ship?" Luffy asked, suddenly excited. Sabo only shrugged.

"You've pretty much dismissed every ship we've come across since there's always something you don't like about them."

"Think I'll like this one? I'm feeling lucky today! Let's go check it out!"

Not waiting for Sabo's answer Luffy kicked the door open to witness a man smashing a water barrel open.

"The shit? S' only water! Coby, you tricked us!" A fat man with a blue and white striped shirt and bandana protested.

"Huh? Who's this lil' punk?" A man with a boring tattoo over his eye asked when he noticed Luffy.

"Hello!" Luffy said cheerfully and raised his hand in greeting. "You guys are pirates, right?"

"Who the hell are you?" The three bully thugs yelled.

"Ah, sorry. My name's Luffy. Nice to meet you." Luffy said while tipping his hat.

Apparently that offended the men as they each pointed something sharp (probably cutlasses, but they were so poor quality Luffy was reluctant to call them that) at him.

"Stop tryin' to screw with us, lil' man! Doncha know we're pirates?" The eye-tattoo guy said.

Hadn't Luffy just _asked_ that?

"Cool! That means you've got a ship, right?" Luffy said with a wide grin, completely ignorant to the fact that he was making the men pissed off.

"Stop crewin with us! DIE!"

The next thing that happened was a complete mystery to the four underlings of Alvida's pirates, but the end result: the blades were cut cleanly in half and propelled into the ceiling.

"What're you attacking me all of a sudden?" Luffy asked, honestly confused.

The three men looked ready to piss themselves, crouching on the floor and clutching broken sword handles.

"W-w-who the hell are you?" One of them asked.

There was chuckling from behind the creepy powerful teen.

"Didn't he introduce himself already? He said his name is Luffy."

The three thugs screamed and made a run for it.

"What's with them?" Luffy asked, still quite confused by their reaction. He hadn't done anything scary, right?

"Wh-what just happened?" A pink-haired boy asked from where he was sitting on the floor.

"Who knows?" Sabo answered Luffy's question, content to ignore the small bespectacled boy. Until he gasped.

"Hurry and run away! When they come back with their comrades you'll be killed for sure!" He panicked.

"Even so, I wonder what their ship looks like." Luffy said and grinned at the boy, making him freak out even more.

"How can you take it so easy? H-hey, don't go that way!" He launched himself to the doorway in an attempt to block the two men's pathway.

Luffy looked at him before a thought occurred to him.

"Hey Sabo, what about Nami?"

"She's a very stealthy thief, don't worry about her. I bet she's on the pirate ship right now, stealing all their loot." He said nonchalantly. Luffy laughed uproariously.

"That sounds like Nami-chan alright. Well, lets get some final munching before seeing how's she doing and checking out the ship, okay?"

"You're still not full yet?"

Luffy sent Sabo a look that said 'are you kidding me?'. Sabo laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, dumb question." He stated.

The brothers turned around and returned to the pantry.

"You hungry too?" Luffy asked the pink haired boy before entering.

Once inside the small youth muttered to himself. "They might not find us here…" He then looked at the carefree brothers. "M-my name is Coby. You are Luffy-san, right?"

Luffy swallowed the food in his mouth. "Yep, and this is my older brother Sabo." He said cheerfully and bit into another piece.

Sabo stood up and gave Coby a bow, tipping his hat off. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Coby-kun."

Coby blushed at the courteous greeting. He hadn't run into polite people in too long.

"A-a. I-It's nice to meet you too."

The elder brother sat down again and continued eating as well, albeit with more manners than his younger brother.

"That was amazing what you did back there. How _did_ you do that?" Coby inquired.

"These are pretty damn good. Here have some as well." Luffy threw Coby an apple which he caught clumsily.

"You're so nice, but you're having a pretty bad luck. This ship is being attacked by Alvida-sama right now." He said nervously.

The brothers shrugged it off as if it were nothing.

"Say Coby, are you a pirate as well?" Sabo, who was usually silent, asked.

A pained look crossed the small pink haired boy's face. He told the brothers his tale of accidentally getting aboard a boat that went to a pirate ship.

"I've been working as a slave for two years for Alvida-sama. If it hadn't been for my navigating skills they would've killed me already." He finished sadly.

"You're a freaking moron." Luffy said with a laugh only to be bonked in the head by Sabo.

"Be nice, Lu." He chastised, but Coby got the feeling he didn't really mean it, if Luffy's grin was anything to go by. But then again, that grin kind of seemed like a permanent feature on the youth.

"You could just run away." Luffy said as if it were the simplest thing ever.

Coby freaked out and started shaking his head rapidly, all the while babbling how impossible it was and how Alvida would kill him.

"Oh, you're a coward. I really hate people like you!" Luffy said in a happy-go-lucky way while laughing.

Sabo hit Luffy on the head again, this time a little harder, as he had started to pity with the tiny youth. Coby only smiled sadly.

"You're right, Luffy-san. If only I had the courage there's something I'd like to do." He muttered timidly.

"Hmm?" Luffy stopped eating to pay more attention, but something else suddenly occurred to Coby.

"O-oh! Luffy-san. Why were you eating here? Aren't guests supposed to dine and party upstairs?"

Luffy laughed out loud.

"I'm not riding here with a ticket, I'm just stowing away eating their food before going my own way again. I'm going to be the King of Pirates!" He declared confidently.

Coby's mouth fell open.

"P-P-P-Pirate King! Does that mean Luffy-san is a pirate?" He shouted in total surprise.

"Totally!"

"A-and Sabo-san too?"

Sabo only smiled and nodded.

"You're crewmates?"

The brothers shook their head.

"Nope, I'm just chaperoning Luffy to Grand Line until I can reunite with my old crew." Sabo said.

"Up until now I only have one nakama- a navigator. We're trying to find a ship- which reminds me… You had a pirate ship, right? Huh?"

Luffy's smile dropped and turned into confusion when he noticed that Coby's expression was completely frozen. Luffy leaned closer and shook his hand in front of Coby's unresponsive face. He looked at Sabo for answers, but he was busy stuffing his mouth with his fist to keep from laughing out loud. Suddenly Coby recovered from his stupor.

"Pirate King is someone who has everything in the world! Wealth, fame, and power all united in one person! It means you're going after One Piece!" He freaked.

"Yup." Luffy said cheerfully.

"All the strongest pirates in the world are after One Piece!" And Coby continued freaking out.

"Yup. And me too." Luffy giggled to himself, Sabo had more trouble holding back from laughing uproariously.

"It's impossible, absolutely impossible to stand on top in this great pirate era! It's impossible, not po-"

Coby was bonked in the head, this time by both brothers.

"Why'd you guys hit me?" He whined.

"Just because." Luffy answered.

"It's not a matter of possible or impossible, Coby-kun." Sabo said gently.

"Huh?"

"I'm doing it because I want to." Luffy said. "I decided I will become the King of Pirates. I don't care if I die doing it."

Sabo observed how Luffy's words made a huge impact on Coby.

"Well then, I think we should go check up on Nami-chan. I want to see the pirate ship too!" Luffy said and started to walk away.

Luffy and Sabo were walking out of the pantry when Coby jumped up and shouted at them.

"Do you think I can become a marine?"

The brothers turned around.

"Marine?" They both echoed at the same time.

"Yes! It has been my dream to catch bad guys ever since I was a little kid!" Coby shouted. "Can I do it?" He asked quite desperately.

Luffy shrugged. "How would I know?" He said and Sabo nodded in agreement.

Coby shook his head enthusiastically.

"No! I'm going to do it! I'm going to stop working as a slave to Alvida-sama… No I will _catch_ Alvida!"

As soon as he had declared that the roof gave in and on _huge_ lady fell through.

"Who are you going to catch! Eh, Coby?" The obese woman screeched at the shaking boy.

After staring down the terrified boy she turned her gaze at Luffy and Sabo and snorted.

"You kiddies are not the pirate hunter Zoro." Alvida said, quite emboldened by not confronting the legendary East Blue monster bounty hunter.

"Zoro?" Luffy cocked his head, never having heard of the person. "Who's Zoro, Sabo?"

"Don't know. He must've become famous only after we left this sea." Sabo answered.

"Coby! Who's the most beautiful woman in the ocean?" Alvida had turned her attention back to Coby.

_Is that a trick question?_ Sabo mused to himself.

Coby was about to answer when he was interrupted by Luffy.

"Who's this fat lady?" He asked while pointing a finger at Alvida.

Sabo watched, fascinated, how many veins popped visible on the woman's face. With an enraged roar Alvida swung her club at Luffy, who avoided the ridiculously slow mace easily. He jumped in front of Coby and grabbed his hand. Then he jumped out on the deck via the hole in the roof Alvida had made before. Sabo followed his brother.

Alvida followed them too, in a much slower pace, but once she had pulled herself up her crew had already been beaten. Her mouth fell wide open.

Coby had witnessed an extraordinary sight: Luffy-san's arm had _stretched_.

"Luffy-san, what are you?" He asked the teen, not knowing how to word himself more politely.

"He's eaten a Devil's Fruit, the gomu-gomu no mi. He's a rubber man." Sabo explained. The completely horrified/fascinated/disbelieving/awestruck expressions on peoples' faces when they hear that never cease to amuse him.

"The Devil's Fruit, is it?" Alvida said, expressionless.

Coby freaked and took refuge behind Luffy.

"Yep." Luffy replied and stretched his mouth to the side to demonstrate.

"I see. I've heard rumors, but I never thought they actually existed. You also have some moves. Are you a bounty hunter?" She asked, actually seeming a bit intimidating… if she hadn't been so pathetically weak.

"Nope. A pirate." Luffy replied.

"A pirate. Just the two of you?"

Luffy nodded. Sabo didn't feel like correcting Alvida. It gave Nami a bit more security for now. Alvida's face stretched into an ugly grin.

"I guess that makes us enemies, then."

"Captain!" A feminine voice shouted.

Luffy turned his head to the side and his mouth fell open.

"What… the… hell… _is_ that thing?" He shouted. "It looks like the monster of übercute barfed all over that… floating thing!"

Sabo found Luffy's description of the pirate vessel quite accurate.

"Cap-_tain_!" The voice called again, a bit more impatient.

Luffy blinked.

"Oh, Nami-chan! I didn't see you there amidst all that pink monstrosity. How's the loot?" He shouted once he spotted his navigator with a huge bag over her shoulder.

"Awesome! I'd say it's about 6 to 7 million in total." Nami replied cheerfully.

"Y-you… YOU LITTLE WORMS!" Alvida screamed her rage.

She turned her gaze at Luffy.

"I'll give you _one_ chance to go easy on you. Tell me, who is the fairest one in the entire ocean?" She said with an ugly leer.

_Seriously, is that a trick question?_ Sabo mused to himself awkwardly.

"Alvida is the number one shittiest lady of them all!" Coby, brave cowardly little Coby, screamed with all his might, with tears streaming down his face.

Luffy glanced at Coby in mild surprise before laughing uproariously.

Alvida, already angered before, finally completely lost it and swung her iron club at Coby with all her might. However Luffy stepped in her path and blocked her blow with his body. Coby gasped, thinking Luffy was done for, until he heard him laughing.

"I'm made from rubber. Blunt damage is generally useless against me."

Then Luffy punched her so hard he sent her flying for several miles. He then turned towards the pink monster ship.

"Nami-chan, grab ahold of the treasure tightly!" He shouted at his navigator.

Nami nodded, understanding what her captain was planning on doing and clutched the bag tightly and also closed her eyes tight. She had assumed correctly when she felt Luffy's hands on her waist and the winds blowing moments later. Luffy had pulled her away from Alvida's ship.

"Hmm, this thing is a little heavy. Do you think we may need an extra dinghy?" Luffy asked when he assessed the weight of the bag.

Sabo grabbed the bag and lifted it up.

"I think so, yes. Especially if we are going to find even more treasure and no real seaworthy ship." He said matter-of-factly.

Luffy turned his gaze at the pirates who were aboard the pink… thing.

"Oi, give us another dinghy." He said bluntly and all the pirates nodded enthusiastically, not daring to utter even half a protest.

Then three cannonballs exploded on the water near their ships. Marines to the rescue!

"Whooaah! Well, alrighty, this is our cue to go."

Luffy said and unloaded the bag on his smallish sailboat. Sabo, Luffy and Nami went as well.

"Na? You're not coming, Coby?" He asked in mild confusion as he looked up where the pink-haired boy was still on the cruise ship.

"Huh?" Coby asked, surprised.

"I thought you said you wanted to become a marine. Get on, we'll give you a ride to the nearest marine base island. As these marines here are more likely to arrest you than recruit you."

Coby's eyes were filled with tears of happiness.

They had gotten away from the marine vessels without a hitch since they were distracted by the 'bigger' prey. It was then that Coby asked Luffy a question.

"U-um, Luffy-san, if One Piece is your goal, then that means you're going to Grand Line, right?" He asked timidly.

"Yup."

"It's also called the graveyard of pirates." He said in a scared tone.

"Really?" Luffy asked, honestly surprised.

"Oi, Sabo, did you know Grand Line's called the graveyard of pirates around these parts?"

Sabo, who was on the bigger boat, blinked before grinning.

"Yeah, but I haven't heard it called that for a _loooong_ time."

"Three years, right?" Luffy guessed.

"Yep. Though considering we've called it 'home' for the past three years, it's not all that surprising." Sabo snickered.

"HOME!" Coby faceplanted.

"I know what the Grand Line's like, that's why I also know I need a strong crew. By the way, Coby, that pirate hunter guy, what kind of a person is he?" Luffy asked carefreely.

"You mean Zoro? I heard he was captured by the marines." Coby, not realizing Luffy's intention, answered freely.

"Huh? Why? Pirate hunters aren't outlaws." Luffy was confused. "But I guess he's pretty weak then, if he got caught in East Blue by a bunch of marines."

"No way! He's a terrifying beast!" Coby freaked.

"I can second that, captain. It's said he's the strongest guy in East Blue." Nami shouted from the bigger boat. "Do you want to make him our nakama?" She asked.

"Maybe. I need to see what kind of person he is first." Luffy said with a wide grin.

"Luffy-san is reckless again." Coby sweatdropped.

"He might be a pretty decent guy." Luffy debated.

"He was caught _because_ he's a bad guy." Coby protested.

His three travel companion's only shook their heads at Coby's naivety and black-white view of world. He'll learn.

* * *

><p>"Whoo! We're finally in a marine base situated town." Luffy shouted cheerfully as his feet touched the ground.<p>

"So, whacha guys wanna do?" He turned to his travel companions.

"I am not going to even bother suggesting anything since our first stop will be a restaurant anyway." Nami said and Sabo burst out laughing.

"As the saying goes, the only one in the crew that's allowed to be selfish is the captain."

"Damn straight we're eating first." Luffy declared. "But afterwards you're free to do what you want while I assess Zoro."

Passersby near him jumped away and freaked out.

"Huh? That's pretty strange." Nami mentioned.

"That only proves to show he's an evil guy." Coby reasoned.

"Restaurant!" Luffy shouted suddenly and pointed as he spotted the dining settlement.

"I have a craving for a tiramisu." Nami said as they walked in the building.

Some time later when the four were full… Well, Nami and Coby were; Luffy and Sabo were just having a 'snack'.

"Mm, the food here's great! Anyway, I wonder if Zoro is being kept in that marine base."

And people, once again, jumped in fright and freaked out.

"Looks like that name's taboo here." Sabo mentioned in interest.

The three paid their bill and walked out of the restaurant.

"Anyway, let's head towards the marine building. Coby wants to become a marine, right?"

"A-ah! L-Luffy-san, I'm not ready yet!" Coby smiled. "I heard that a captain Morgan is in charge of this base." He said a bit dreamily… until people jumped in fright and freaked out.

Luffy burst out laughing.

"What an interesting town."

"I'd say it's a weird one." Nami commented.

"I find it quite amusing." Sabo added.

Coby looked worried.

"I can understand Zoro, but why would people be afraid of a captain? This is so worrisome." He said.

"Dunno. Maybe people do it for the fun of it." Luffy suggested.

"I doubt it." Coby said, not amused.

"Maybe he did something really evil." Sabo said.

"That's not possible!" Coby yelled, even less amused.

They arrived before the marine building. It was pretty ugly up close, but Coby was looking at it like one would a firstborn son.

"Ne, Nami, are ya tagging along with us?" Luffy asked.

"You're going in there?" Nami replied, only mildly surprised.

"Duh, I want to find Zoro."

Nami shrugged.

"Nah, I think I wanna go shopping. I saw there were some cute and cheap clothes on sale in town."

"Okay." Luffy said and took a glance at Coby.

Then he took a step closer to Nami to whisper in her ear so that Coby couldn't hear him.

"Don't take too long with that. Whether or not we're having Zoro join us I'm going to make a scene in this base so you can sneak in and steal some treasure and see if you stumble upon some interesting data."

Nami nodded and gave an okay.

"I'll see you later then, captain."

"Bye." Luffy called and launched himself on the gate to peek over it.

"Miss Nami, be careful out there. Keep in mind your face has recently made the bounty list." Sabo warned Nami.

Nami was momentarily depressed at the mention of a bounty, but cheered up instantly when she thought about shopping. Plus having two unrivaled powerhouses to watch her back she felt quite safe even if she were to get caught.

"I wonder where that monster is~?" Luffy singsonged as he peeked over the wall.

Sabo shook his head and Coby sweatdropped.

"They wouldn't keep him in a place like this, Luffy-san. He's probably in an isolated cell or dungeon or something." Coby said and Sabo agreed with him.

"Nope. There's someone there." Luffy said and ran along the wall to where he could get the closest look of the dreaded bounty hunter.

"Huh?" Both Sabo and Coby said, surprised.

They followed Luffy and peeked over the fence.

"So, is that him?" Luffy asked, still grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"It's not possi-" Coby started but his words died in his mouth. His eyes widened and he started shaking.

"That black bandana, green haramaki, and intimidating aura… there's no doubt. That's Roronoa Zoro."

"Those ropes seem pretty easy to break." Luffy mused out loud.

"They do." Sabo agreed.

"Are you out of your damn minds! If you do that he'll kill you and go rampage on this town." Coby wailed.

"It's okay, we're strong." Luffy grinned.

Coby felt like banging his head against a hard surface.

"Hey you…" They heard o voice and turned towards Roronoa.

"He's speaking…" Coby squeaked.

"You're annoying. Get lost." He said gruffly.

"He sounds like he hasn't had much to drink for some time." Sabo commented aloofly as Coby fell down the wall in fright.

Coby was surprised when a ladder was placed against the wall and a little girl climbed up. She looked at Sabo, Luffy and Coby and 'sssh'ed them. Then she surveyed the grounds that Zoro was tied at and, after convincing that there was no immediate danger, jumped down the wall and ran towards the tied up man.

"Ah! No! Don't go there, it's dangerous!" Coby fretted, but the girl paid him no mind. "Luffy-san, please stop her! It's dangerous, she'll be killed!" He sobbed.

"Do it yourself, Coby." Luffy said to shut him up.

Actually Luffy and Sabo were fascinated at what the little girl would do, so they observed silently.

"What are you doing here, shorty?" Zoro asked, but not unkindly.

"Are you hungry, oniisan? I made you some onigiri." She chirped happily.

"You'll be killed if you stay here. Get lost." Zoro replied.

"But you haven't eaten anything. Here, it's was my first time, but I made it with all my heart." She said with a cute smile.

"I'm not hungry. Hurry and go home." Zoro replied, a bit more urgently.

"But…" The girl protested weakly.

"I don't want it. Go away."

At that moment a gate into the open training yard (where Zoro was being held) opened and a weird buy wearing a tacky purple garb walked in pompously.

"Such a mean man you are, Roronoa Zoro. You really shouldn't be picking on little girls." He twittered.

Back on the wall Luffy was staring at the guy bug-eyed.

"Okay, I understand you can't help genetics and get a butt on your chin, but _what_ is _up_ with that freaky bowl cut?" He mused out loud.

"I find his lack of fashion sense disturbing." Sabo agreed.

"Oh thank god, someone important from the marine's showed up. That little girl will be safe now." Coby sighed in relief.

Luffy and Sabo glanced at their incredibly green friend. How could _anyone_ be relieved by the appearance of _that_ guy? He practically oozed pompousness.

Zoro looked at the obviously spoiled rotten brat and snorted.

"If it isn't the captain's bastard son." He said sarcastically.

"Bastard? Don't get cocky!" He said in with a pathetic sense of superiority.

The fashion disaster turned to look at the little girl.

"Oh, doesn't that onigiri look delicious." He said snootily and plucked one of the two rice balls from her.

The girl protested but was soon overridden by bowl-head's hacking.

"Bleeergh! Disgusting! Onigiri needs _salt_ not _sugar_ you little twit!" He screamed.

The girl pouted.

"But I thought they would taste better sweet."

Bowl-head grabbed the other onigiri the girl made and stamped it under his foot, all the while berating the sobbing girl for her stupidity.

Coby was shocked, unable to comprehend that a marine would do such a cruel thing.

"Don't cry, little girlie, I'm sure the ants will enjoy this now. Don't you know that my dad declared that anyone who helps the criminal will be charged with death penalty? If you were an adult you'd be executed."

Luffy and Sabo comprehended the situation immediately. Classic case of nepotism. Actually worse than that, considering the bowl-head didn't even seem to be _part_ of the marines.

Luffy frowned when bowl-head gave an order to _throw_ the girl over the fence. His frown deepened even more when he threatened the reluctant marine soldier to 'tell on him' like a bratty kindergartener if the order wasn't carried out. Luffy took a deep breath and concentrated on his ambition. With a slight nudge of haoshoku haki the bowl-head and his two unwilling lackeys were knocked out cold.

Sabo realized exactly what happened but everyone else was confused.

Luffy jumped over the fence and neared Zoro, Sabo chose to stay by the fence, and so did Coby.

"What a douchebag! Y'know, I've never liked people who make a habit out of taking a joyride on someone else's accomplishments. They're just the worst." He said after reaching them.

"You're still here?" Zoro stated rather than asked.

"Hmm, yes I'm too busy browsing to leave."

"Browsing?" Zoro blinked at the odd guy.

Luffy turned to look at the little girl.

"Hey shorty, did you feel a sort of chill run down your spine before this douche ball passed out?" Ha asked as he pointed at bowl-head.

The girl blinked in confusion but shook her head negative.

"You sure?" Luffy asked, just to make sure.

"I'm sure." She nodded.

"What about you, bounty hunter, did you feel a chill or something similar?" Luffy turned to Zoro.

"Eh? Should I have?" He replied gruffly.

Luffy threw his arms in the air and whooped in happy triumph.

"Hear that, Sabo? It's the first time I completely controlled my haoshoku haki perfectly!" Luffy cheered happily.

"Congratulations Lu." Sabo shouted from the wall.

"What a weird guy." Zoro mumbled to himself.

That brought Luffy's attention back at him.

"Are you sure you're strong? Being publicly humiliated like that?" He asked, his tone not at all mocking despite his words.

"Mind your own damn business!" Zoro growled, his mood already soured from hunger and Helmeppo. "You should beat it before this spoiled brat wakes up and goes running to daddy." He nodded his chin at the passed out blonde idiot, who had finally stopped frothing from his mouth. Luffy blatantly ignored his warning.

"I'm looking for people to join my pirate crew." He said out of the blue.

Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"Pirate? You want me to give up my life to become a crook?"

Luffy shrugged.

"I haven't made up my mind yet. You've got a pretty bad reputation, though hardly ever are rumors among civilians accurate. They like to put marines on pedestals and paint pirates, and often bounty hunters, as devils. It's really funny how black-and-white they like to see the world" He giggled to himself.

"So what's your plan if you do decide on me? Set me free and force me to join?" He asked and gave a dangerous smile.

"Dunno. Maybe. I still haven't made up my mind." Luffy shrugged and turned tail. "Guess I'll see ya later, maybe." He grinned and waved.

"Wait!" Zoro called out before Luffy could leave.

"Hmm?" The straw hatted boy turned around.

"Before you go, could you give that to me?" Zoro pointed his chin towards the squished mud/rice ball.

Luffy picked it up with a mildly disgusted face while Rika's face started to show stars of happiness (yes, she was still there, just quietly).

"You want to eat it? It has more dirt than actual food in it." He said with a pouty face. Food shouldn't be wasted like that! That's _sacrilege_!

"Just shut up and give it to me!" Zoro shouted and opened his mouth wide.

Luffy shrugged and shoved the former food in the bounty hunter's mouth. He chewed, swallowed and then coughed at all the dirt.

"Told ya." Luffy said, grinning.

"It was delicious. Thanks for the food."

Rika looked like she was going to pass out from happiness.

"I'm glad you liked it oniisan!"

Suddenly Luffy pushed down Zoro's haramaki and pulled up his shirt. The swordsman's face went pink.

"What the hell are you doing?" He yelled.

"I'm checking out your abs." Luffy replied bluntly and Zoro went from pink to red.

Sabo hit his forehead with his palm. Of course his selectively naïve baby brother wouldn't get the double meaning of his words.

"You idiot! Cut that out!" Zoro yelled, now extremely embarrassed and oddly self-conscious.

"You haven't eaten in awhile, right? I'm just checking to see how many fat reserves you have left and estimate your level of atrophy." Luffy touched his hand to Zoro's stomach. "Don't want you to be useless if you do join me."

Zoro wizened up and kicked the younger boy away.

"You moron, that's embarrassing!" He yelled.

"Well, these dudes here should wake up soon, so I guess we'll see ya later. Hehehe, y'know I think I'm really starting to want you in my crew." Luffy said before leaving the training field with Rika, leaving the swordsman tied up and blushing.

Luffy, Zoro, Coby and Rika walked back to town.

"I don't get it." Coby said. "Is Zoro really an evil demon like everybody says he is?"

"No!" Rika protested. "Oniisan's a nice person. He got arrested because he killed Helmeppo's pet wolf when it was about to attack me. Helmeppo let it run wild in the town. Helmeppo made a deal with Zoro-niisan. He promised if he could survive one month he will let him go, but he punches and kicks him…" Rika started tearing up in sorrow. "The only bad guys are Morgans, but you'll get executed if you disobey. Everybody's terrified of them."

At that moment Helmeppo walked down the street, and the people let him have a wide berth and bowed their heads low as he walked by. Luffy's breath hitched in his throat- this scene was too familiar.

Helmeppo laughed obnoxiously. "Who dares raise their heads? I'll tell my dad!" He declared almost as pompously as a tenryuubito would.

Luffy's brow twitched and Sabo had to grab his arm to remind him to calm down.

"Do you want to be like that Roronoa Zoro? I'm going to publicly execute him in three days to set an example."

Luffy stepped into Helmeppo's path. The bowl-head was about to protest, but was cut in by Luffy before he could.

"Didn't you say you'll release him after one month of imprisonment?" He asked emotionlessly.

"Whaaaat? I was only joking with him. Only an idiot would've bought that! Ha ha!" He laughed, satisfied in self-achievement.

"So you're either a sissy, a scumbag, or both." Luffy concluded.

A vein popped on Helmeppo's forehead. "What did you say?"

Luffy shrugged. "The only people who go back on their deals are sissies and or scumbags. And I only deal with them one way."

Luffy gave a friendly smile before punching Helmeppo in the face, knocking out a few teeth and probably bruising his cheekbone.

Coby freaked out.

"Sabo, go find Nami and say that it's time."

Sabo nodded and disappeared, looking for Nami with the help of kenbunshoku haki. Luffy turned to Coby and smiled, all traces of anger he showed before vanished.

"I've made up my mind now. I'm going to make Zoro my nakama."

With that Luffy hightailed towards the marine training grounds where the swordsman was strung up. Helmeppo cradled the place where Luffy hit him, and called after him before the young pirate captain was out of hearing range.

"Y-you hit me!" He screamed, not believing this could happen. "I-I'm marine captain Morgan's son! I'll tell him about this!" He wailed with tears in his eyes.

"I'd tell you to fight your own battles, but that would be a waste of air. Trash like you is not even worth beating up." Luffy said with a bored tone.

"You'll regret this! You'll get a death sentence for certain! BASTARD!" Helmeppo wailed as his two marine 'escorts' half dragged half carried him away.

Rika cheered on Luffy until her mother came to take her away, afraid that her daughter might get a death penalty as well.

Back on the training field Zoro was having a nap, which he awoke from abruptly only to find the embarrassing guy in front of him again.

"You have way too much free time." He commented.

"Yo!" Luffy greeted with a grin. "I've made up my mind; I'll have you as my nakama." He declared. "By the way, my name is Luffy."

"Piss off. I have no intention of joining you. I have my own ambitions." Zoro said and his eyebrow twitched in irritation.

Luffy stood a bit too close to Zoro's comfort, and he was painfully reminded of the embarrassing ordeal this guy put him through a while ago.

"What is your dream, Roronoa Zoro?" Luffy asked, gazing straight into the swordsman's eyes.

Maybe it was the use of his full name, but it made Zoro grin a bloodthirsty badass grin.

"To be the best swordsman in the world."

"Ho?" Luffy grinned even wider, if that was possible. "In that case, I'm your best bet." His grin took a demonic glint "And that's not even taking into consideration that Helmeppo's planning to execute you in three days."

"What!" Zoro exclaimed in surprise. "He promised me…"

"He's trash with shitty upbringing, spoiled rotten little shit. You can't expect people like him to keep their promises. Actually, it's easier to just assume they'll break them."

Zoro's fist clenched.

"So… I heard you're a swordsman. Where's your katana?" Luffy asked out of the blue.

"That shitty son took them. It's something I treasure most in this world, other than my life." Zoro replied.

Luffy grinned.

"Perfect! I'll go get it right now, so if you want it back you'll have to join me. Though, if you don't you'll be executed anyway."

"THAT'S DIRTY, YOU SON OF A DEVIL!" Zoro screamed, but Luffy was already gone.

"Is he planning on sneaking into the marine base alone?" Zoro mused to himself.

A few moments later the pink headed kid who freaked out at the sight of him ran over and tried to undo his ropes.

"Please run away, Zoro-san." He pleaded when the ropes weren't even close to untied.

"You'll be killed if you're caught doing that, kid." Zoro sighed.

"I can't watch these marines any longer." He replied with a soft, but determined voice. "I want to be a good marine."

Zoro looked at the determined kid.

"I heard rumors that they'll execute me." Zoro ventured, wanting to see his reaction.

The kid didn't stop trying to untie him, but he did nod.

"Helmeppo never intended to keep his promise. That's why Luffy-san got mad and punched him when he heard it."

Zoro was surprised to hear that.

"That kid punched that brat?" He asked.

"That is why Luffy-san is being chased by the marines. I'm not asking you to become a pirate, but please help him." Coby pleaded.

Suddenly a gunshot rang out and caught Coby in the shoulder. A moment later they were interrupted by Morgan.

"Hold it right there!" The corrupt marine captain commanded. "By the treason you have committed against me, you will be both executed right now!"

_A few minutes earlier with Luffy._

Luffy was contemplating the best way he could get Zoro's sword. He should probably find that blond twit and ask (read: beat) him to show where they are, but he doesn't know where _he_ is either.

"Come to think of it. Military quarters should be heavily bustling with soldiers, but this place looks bloody deserted. This is so creepy. You'd _never_ have a situation like this in Grand Line."

Luffy looked left, right, up and down the marine base. Up? There was some movement on the roof.

"Looks like there's _somebody_ there at the very least. Maybe they know where Zoro's swords are… or that pothelmet head."

Luffy used his elastic hands to launch himself in the air and to the roof. When he was there he saw the marine soldiers trying to pull up a big statue.

"Whoo! That is one butt-ugly statue!" Luffy exclaimed.

Suddenly there was a large shadow over him. Luffy turned around and saw the live version of the same statue. He sweatdropped.

"Hehehe, nice statue?" He grinned sheepishly at the pissed off tall marine.

"Dad! That's the same guy that punched me!" A familiar voice shouted.

Luffy turned his head and saw the blonde moron he had been seeking.

"Hey idiot! Long time no see. You're _just_ the shithead I've been searching for!" Luffy declared happily, grabbed the marine captain's son, and hightailed off the roof.

"So! Tell me, fucktard, where are you keeping Zoro's sword?"

Luffy kept on running and dragging Helmeppo along the ground until he cracked.

"I'll tell! Just please stop dragging me!" He wailed.

Luffy stopped still.

"Goody. So where?"

"I-inside my room. We just passed it a moment ago."

Luffy blinked a few times before bonking Helmeppo on the head.

"Why didn't you say so before?"

Helmeppo wailed and begged for mercy.

"Freeze! Don't move! Put your hands above your head!" Three marines had pointed muskets towards him.

Luffy looked at them and raised an eyebrow.

"But if I put my hands above my head I would be moving. Are you guys' idiots?"

Then he grabbed pot-head and placed him like a shield. It took Helmeppo a moment to take in the situation he was in exactly.

"Huh? WAAAAH! Don't shoot!" He wailed, in tears.

"Go ahead and shoot!" Luffy giggled and bowled right past the marines.

Finally they reached the room, which to Luffy seemed far too pink and flowery to belong at a male. Was this guy gay? Or just had the gayest fashion sense a straight guy could have?

"Here it is! Huh? There's three. Which belongs to Zoro?" Luffy asked Helmeppo, who he just noticed had passed out from fright. "Oh, whoops." Luffy grinned sheepishly. "Well, I guess I'll just have to take all three with me."

Suddenly Luffy's kenbunshoku picked up an injury from a friend. He gasped quietly and ran to the window. Coby had been shot! It wasn't too serious a wound, but it was still an injury.

Without a moment to waste Luffy grabbed the swords and launched himself through the window. He arrived not a moment too late as gunshots rang out and his body was pelted with bullet. Which, being rubber, he launched back easily.

And he laughed while doing it.

"Who the hell are you?" Zoro gasped.

Luffy turned towards the green haired man.

"I'm Luffy, the man who will become the next King of Pirates."

Zoro's mouth fell open, but before he could comment anything Luffy held out the swords.

"Here! Which one is yours?"

"All three. I'm a santoryu practitioner."

Luffy grinned.

"That's a rare style. I know a couple of nitoryu practitioners, but I think this is the first time I've actually met someone who fights with three swords. Well, anyway, become my nakama or marine chowder. Which do you choose?"

Zoro snorted in morbid amusement.

"You really are a devil spawn. Fine. I'd rather be a pirate than die in this place."

"Perfect. Here, Coby, hold Zoro's swords for a moment."

Coby, ignoring the pain from his shoulder, did as asked.

"Alrighty now. Hop!"

Luffy grabbed the wooden post Zoro was tied to and did a one-armed handstand on it. He then punched where the two logs connected to make a cross and completely shattered the wood. The marines and Luffy's allies' mouths fell open at the power play.

"Well now. Hurry up and get the ropes off."

With the wood shattered the ropes were limp, but still around Zoro's body.

"What the hell is he?" The marine soldiers gasped.

"He must be one of those devil fruit users." Morgan said. "Bullets are useless and he possesses superhuman strength." The corrupt marine took a lungful of air and screamed to better effect his order. "If guns don't work, use swords. Whatever happened, kill that straw hat brat!"

The soldiers did make a dash towards Luffy, but one 'clang' later all of their blades were stopped by three swords wielded by a single swordsman.

"One move… and I will kill you." Zoro said, for a moment truly resembling a demon.

"So… scary…" The soldiers weeped.

Zoro turned to look at his new captain, all the while still restraining the marines.

"After this event I will be an outlaw regardless what I do. I don't care what path I will walk on my way to the top, so I might as well give my allegiance to you. But remember this: if you stand in the way of me and my ambition, I will cut you down."

"Nice…" Luffy said, drawing out the 's' sound. "I wouldn't expect anything less."

Morgan had enough at that moment and roared for his underlings to execute them. Luffy told Zoro to duck, which he did, and Luffy used his stretching leg to knock all the men off their feet. When the soldiers sobbed that the enemy was too strong, especially since the blatant proof of Devil Fruit existence, Morgan ordered his own men to shoot themselves in the head.

"Wow, is that a corrupt marine, or what!" Luffy singsonged cheerfully.

"There's something seriously wrong with marines." Zoro commented.

"Ne, Zoro, do you want to have that marine captain or shall I?"

Zoro shrugged. "By all means, captain."

"By the way, can I borrow your bandana for a moment? I want to demonstrate something to you."

Zoro was confused, but did as his captain asked. Luffy tied the bandana over his eyes, thus blindfolding himself.

Luffy grinned and was gone the next instant. The next thing that happened: Morgan was knocked off his feet and coughing blood. He did recover quite fast, as he stood up and threw away his coat in a flashy movement for better mobility.

"A civilian with no rank is no match for me!" He roared, insulted and enraged. "I am Axe-Hand Morgan, captain of marine forces!"

Luffy tipped his hat. "I'm Luffy. Nice to meet you."

Morgan continued to try to cleave Luffy to pieces, but try as he might he couldn't land even half a blow to the boy, only getting a few but apparently powerful hits on himself. Zoro watched the match with interest. Being the owner of that headband he was aware that the visibility was next to none through that cloth. Luffy seemed to use his other senses to know where Morgan was and, dare he say it, actually predict what the man was going to do next.

Their 'duel' came to an end when Helmeppo took Coby as a hostage.

Luffy took off Zoro's bandana and looked on with an unreadable expression. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Using haki he knocked out the blond idiot son. When he opened his eyes he noticed Helmeppo passed out but also Coby on his knees and shaking. He pouted, as it seemed his control wasn't perfect this time. He looked behind himself to see the overgrown marine captain fall.

"Not too shabby, Zoro." He grinned.

"Not a problem, captain. But what was that chill?" He inquired and Luffy frowned.

"You felt that? Damnit!" He kicked the ground and sulked.

Zoro and Luffy turned towards the remaining marine. "Anyone who wants to arrest us can have a go." Zoro said, but the soldiers only threw their hats and weapons in the air in celebration of the fall of the tyrannical officer.

"Rejoicing that their leader has fallen. What is this world coming to?" Luffy wondered out loud.

Zoro collapsed.

"You okay, Zoro?" Luffy asked with slight worry.

"I'm starving." The swordsman replied making Luffy grin.

"That we can remedy." The would-be Pirate King declared and helped the new pirate to his feet.

"You want some more sugary onigiri?"

Zoro rolled his eyes.

* * *

><p>Zoro and Luffy were in Rika's mother Ririka's diner, just finishing enjoying a really wonderful meal.<p>

"Is that all you're going to eat, Zoro?" Luffy asked his brand new nakama.

"I don't get it. I've been starving for over a week yet you still are able to eat more that me, and _still_ be so damn scrawny." Zoro said while patting his satisfied belly.

"Well, all the people in my family are gluttons hereditarily, but the gomu-gomu no mi I ate help me stretch into huge proportions. Beside, this food is seriously delicious. Isn't that right, Coby?"

Coby looked sheepish.

"Eh, sorry. I helped myself a little as well." He apologized to the landlady.

She only smiled and said it was alright.

"So? How many shipmates do we have?" Zoro inquired. "I remember you saying you're recruiting. To become Pirate King you probably have a crew already."

Luffy shook his head.

"I've only just started. So far I just have a navigator aside from you and me."

Zoro blinked in surprise. "And a ship?"

Luffy shook his head.

"Going to let a proper one built in Water 7, where I will also recruit a shipwright _if_ I don't find one here. However, since it's in Grand Line, going to have to steal another one to get there first. Although I would prefer to get one as a gift. It's better karma that way."

Zoro cocked his head before shrugging.

"Are you heading to Grand Line now?" Rika inquired from Luffy, eyes wide with innocence.

"Of course!" Luffy declared.

Which of course, made Coby start freaking out as usual. Rika blinked in surprise.

"Is Grand Line really that dangerous?" She asked cutely.

"Of course it is!" Coby exclaimed. "A long tome ago the Pirate King Gold Roger left his treasure, One Piece, in the Grand Line. Now pirates all over the world flock to that sea like a pack of vultures to a fresh corpse. It's a battlefield, also known as the Graveyard of Pirates."

Coby was hoping his story would make Zoro see sense and convince Luffy not to go. Rika's mother entered her two cents as well.

"I once heard from a customer that people who enter Grand Line never come back."

BANG

Luffy hit his head on the table.

"I really hate it…" He started depressively. "…when people mispronounce his name."

"Whose name?" Zoro asked from where he was lounging.

"It was Gol **D.** Roger, not Gold Roger! What was wrong with the world government, giving him that ridiculous nickname?" Luffy wailed dramatically.

"They were trying to silence the Will of D, most probably." A familiar voice said from the doorway.

Luffy's gloom dissipated instantly.

"Sabo! Where've you been? I got a new nakama too."

Sabo smiled.

"Miss Nami asked me to carry her shopping bags to our boats while she looked around the marine base. After that I thought she might appreciate my help more than you probably."

Nami walked in.

"Hey, Nami-chan. Did you find anything interesting?" Luffy inquired.

Nami shrugged.

"Just some, though not too much. I did find a message in a vault. Apparently Buggy the Clown has stolen a map to Grand Line from this town." Nami looked a little put out.

"Buggy?" Luffy echoed in surprise. "He's in East Blue?"

"You know him?" Nami asked, a bit surprised.

"Not personally. He's a friend of a friend like Arlong used to be. Do you know where he is?"

"I know the general direction of where he _might_ be." Nami looked at Luffy with a suspecting glint in her eyes. "Why?"

"Just thought to stop by." Luffy shrugged until he remembered one thing he forgot to do.

"Oh yeah. Nami this is Zoro, our resident swordsman. Zoro this is Nami, our navigator."

Zoro nodded at Nami and Nami gave him a wave. Then Zoro turned to look at Sabo.

"That's Sabo. He's my brother and traveling with us until we get back to Grand Line."

Zoro nodded at the friendly looking male. Then something clicked.

"_Back_ to Grand Line?"

Luffy grinned.

"Luffy only came back to East Blue to hand-pick his starting crewmembers. Lord knows how we all tried to talk him out of it." Sabo explained to the swordsman.

"I wanted to start fresh, and make a name for myself. And actually have a reason for my bounty."

A dark cloud of depression appeared out of nowhere above Luffy's head again. Zoro and Nami turned to look at Sabo for explanation. Sabo laughed a bit sheepishly.

"Three years ago Luffy, Ace and I started our journey as pirates. Ace is our eldest brother, and the most famous. While Ace and I gained a bit of fame and made a name for ourselves Luffy was just happy tagging along and not pulling attention to himself. He wanted to be unknown so he can make a big entrance when he would finally become a captain himself. However the World Government found out about his relation to Ace and I, so they put a bounty on his head just to spite us. They aren't aware of Luffy's true potential at all. They mostly think of him as a tag-along."

Zoro nodded in understanding.

"I see. What's his bounty anyway?"

Before Sabo could answer they were interrupted by a marine officer.

"Excuse me." He said to get everyone attention.

"Is it true that you guys are pirates?" He asked.

The cloud of depression above Luffy's head had vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. He grinned and confirmed.

"We are very grateful that you saved us from Morgan's oppression. Unfortunately, now that we know that you are pirates, we are unable look the other way. Please leave this island immediately."

The officer's words were met with much booing. Apparently, despite being pirates, Luffy and Zoro had become quite popular after beating the stuffing out of Morgan. Luffy grinned widely, not taking offence in the least.

"Well, I guess we'll go now. But before we do, I'd like to have a piece of paper and something to write with."

Rika's mother, Ririka, did as the youthful pirate captain asked. Luffy sat behind a table and quickly wrote something down, then asked the letter to be sealed with wax. He gave the sealed letter to the marine.

"Give this to vice admiral Garp. And I'd rather you didn't open it, for your sake. He probably would not like that much."

Luffy ignored the look of utter surprise at the marine's face at hearing the legendary man's name.

"Uh, sure." He said hesitantly, not positive why a pirate would want to send a message to high-ranked marine officer in the first place.

"Aren't you with their group?" The officer asked Coby when Luffy was almost out of the door.

Coby stuttered a 'no'.

"Please wait. Is he telling the truth?"

Luffy turned around.

"I don't really know him. He's just a kid I barely met before, who wanted to become a marine, I think. Though the way he tried to help Zoro escape, before Zoro agreed to become my nakama, I'd say he doesn't like corrupt marines. See ya later! Or not."

Luffy waved goodbye and walked away with his friends.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading.<strong>

**Honest opinions appreciated.**

**Brownie points to people who can guess Luffy's bounty. I can say it's slightly higher than his other 30 million. Cookie points who can guess what Luffy wrote to Garp. Not giving hints about that though.**

**Word count: 9223**


	3. Recruiting the Sharpshooter

**Disclaimer: ****Oh yeah I totally own One Piece, like I also own Harry Potter, Bleach and Chuck Norris. Maybe I'll also take over the Universe one day (**_**Yes I was being sarcastic**_**). **

**Summary: Sabo was saved by Dragon when the tenryuubito, Saint Jalmack, shot his boat. He, Ace, and Luffy went out to the sea together at age 17/14. What would happen to our beloved Straw Hats if they had a captain who had experienced Grand Line once already?**

**Warnings: slight OOCness, language, gay jokes, some violence.**

**Pairing: nothing permanent between main characters, start reviewing if you want something badly (but no LuNa).**

**A/N: The next chapter won't be up in at least two weeks, maybe even longer. Also, I went by the fact that Syrup Village is the **_**only**_** settlement in the island, even though in both anime and manga 'the other town' was mentioned about half a dozen times. Please just go with me on this one.**

**Posted: September 1****st**** 2011 (stop reading this shit and go to school and study!)**

* * *

><p>The group had been slowly making their way through the seas towards Gecko Island. Nothing remarkable happened aside the fact that they ran out of meat… again. Luffy was really disappointed that they amazingly hadn't ran into any ships since leaving Shells Town.<p>

"I'm booooored~" Luffy moaned. "At least on a proper ship I could train you guys or play a game, but there's no room here."

"Train?" Zoro and Nami echoed together.

"Yup. You guys haven't even cracked your true potential." Luffy grinned maniacally, promising a darkly sinister future for his nakama.

"You think so?" Zoro asked skeptically. As far as he knew he was quite strong.

Luffy grinned and nodded his head enthusiastically, looking like he was Jack the Ripper about to pounce on a whore.

"I'm going to teach all of you to use haki."

Sabo rolled his eyes.

"Before that you should actually explain what it is." He suggested.

"Ah, right it's…"

Before he could say anything more a sailboat bearing a pirate insignia pulled up next to them and three thugs climbed over.

"Hello gentlemen and lady. We'll be taking everything of value in exchange for your safe passage." One of the three said as they each pulled out short swords or daggers.

"When did they sneak up on us?" Nami asked in surprise.

"They've been following us for about an hour." Luffy answered, sounding bored again.

Sabo raised an eyebrow. Luffy's mood swings had been getting more severe since they left Grand Line. Was there a reason for that?

"Do you mind taking care of this, Zoro-san?" Sabo requested politely.

The three watched dispassionately as Zoro beat the crap out of all three with his fists, not even bothering to draw even a single blade.

Now they were sitting in a circle, completely covered in bruises, but all smiling in an attempt to soothe the mess they had tangled themselves in.

"Hehehe, who would've thought that you were the famous Pirate Hunter Zoro?" The spokesman said nervously. "Please forgive us!" They all exclaimed.

"Hey guys, look at this!" Nami exclaimed from the newcomers' boat.

She showed her companions a treasure chest filled with money and jewels.

"Wow. I wasn't expecting that." Luffy said, surprised that such a small boat would hold such treasure.

"Maybe Zoro-san can get better swords now?" Sabo mused out loud.

"What's wrong with my swords?" Zoro asked, slightly insulted.

"With that white one- nothing. But the other two are far too ordinary. They'll do for some time, but with the battles that are sure to come you need something with more quality. Trust me, having your weapon fail you in a crucial moment is not… pleasant."

It was then Sabo noticed the Jolly Roger.

"Ne, Luffy, doesn't that ring any bells?" He asked his younger brother.

Luffy looked at the flag.

"A skull with a big red nose. Why does that seem familiar?"

Luffy's sharp ears picked up a whisper from the three nameless pirate thugs.

"Captain Buggy will kill us if he finds out we lost our boat and treasure to a bunch of no-names."

"Buggy?" Luffy asked and the three flinched at being caught.

"Hmm? Who's Buggy?" Zoro asked from his lounging position.

"Whaat? You don't know Buggy the Clown?" Thug number 2 exclaimed in surprise.

"Never heard of him." Zoro replied nonchalantly.

Thug number 1 made a dramatic face and started explaining. "He's the captain of our crew. He's got the power of a Devil's Fruit and he's a very fearsome man."

"Is he somewhere near this area?" Luffy asked, getting excited again.

The three nodded mutely.

"Awesome. Let's go meet him. Nami, we're giving the treasure chest back."

"Whaaat?" Nami exclaimed, not happy at all. "But captain…" She started protesting.

"Sorry, but taking it away would make Buggy mad at us. I don't want that." Luffy shook his head.

"Your captain understands how dangerous our captain is." Thug number 1 said, emboldened by Luffy's words.

"No, that's not it." Luffy shook his head. "Buggy's just a friend of a friend. Now, let's go meet him."

* * *

><p>They had finally docked at a seemingly abandoned town. Suddenly a loud crash was heard.<p>

"I wonder what made that loud explosion." Sabo mused out loud.

"That's our Captain Buggy's Buggy Bomb." One of the thugs replied nervously.

"Buggy Bomb?" Zoro smirked. This actually might not be a complete snorefest.

The group made their way towards where the thugs said the Buggy Crew to be. Buggy's underlings were carrying the treasure chest, much to Nami's displeasure (though she did manage to nick something or other here and there).

"This town seems really deserted." Luffy wondered out loud as they made their way through the empty streets.

"Of course." Thug number 1 exclaimed, as it should've been obvious. "Captain Buggy's made everyone terrified of him, right? Everybody from this town's evacuated."

Luffy frowned. Not really liking what he heard. "Why would he need to do that?"

The thugs looked at Luffy like he was an idiot, but wisely didn't say anything.

They arrived at where Buggy was lodging and partying. He was in a generally good mood and chugging grog with his underling. He noticed the newcomers a moment later.

"Where've you been you flashy louts? What's in the chest?" He bellowed.

The thugs placed the chest in front of him and opened it. Buggy's eyes bugged out at the sight of all the treasure.

"Whohooo! You boys are definitely forgiven. Come, have a drink in celebration!" He cheered happily.

"U-uh, captain, we sort of ran into people who wanted to meet you." Thug number 1 said carefully. The captain was in a good mood right now, but he was known to have a 180 at any given moment.

Buggy turned to look at the group of young people he hadn't noticed a moment ago.

"Who are you kids?" He asked in a slightly rude tone.

"Just a bunch of pirates." Luffy answered with a grin. He had decided to ignore the state of the town for the time being.

"You brats? Pirates?" Buggy snorted.

Luffy pouted. "Why not? You were even younger when you apprenticed at Oro Jackson, weren't you?"

The name rang a bell in both Nami and Zoro's minds, but they could not remember where they had heard it before. Buggy turned to look at the young pirates with a bit more interest. Come to think of it: that straw hat looked awfully familiar.

"Hmm? Not many people are aware of that. How did you know that?"

"Shanks told me about you. He sends his regards, by the way."

Buggy was so surprised he fell off his seat.

"That flashy idiot! Where do you know that shitty man?" He raged.

Sabo frowned and Luffy pouted.

"That's rude, y'know. Shanks always spoke about you with fondness." Luffy said.

That did not improve Buggy's mood at all. Actually it threw him into a tirade about the story why he hated Shanks with passion. Luffy's reaction was quite predictable.

"So, Shanks saved your life." He stated.

"No, you moron! He destroyed my dream and delayed my plans by ten years!" Buggy raged.

"It's unlikely you would've been able to get your underwater treasure by swimming anyway." Nami spoke up for the first time.

"Bwuh?" Buggy sputtered.

"The treasure would've likely been so deep you not only would've ran out of breath a long time ago, but the pressure would've squished your body. You'd have been more likely to find your treasure with a submarine." She stated matter-of-factly.

If it had been nighttime you would've heard the crickets chirping a moment before Buggy cried out in denial and holy anger. He whipped out six throwing daggers, three on either hand between each finger, and separated his upper body from his lower half. With an enraged scream he flew at Nami.

Before he could make it to the ginger navigator however a big cloud of dust appeared out of nowhere.

"I had no harmful intention towards you, Buggy." One could hear the cheerful straw hat wearing boy say through the cloud. However, at that moment he didn't sound the least bit cheerful. Honestly his voice could be described as 'demonic'.

"However, if you intend to harm any of my nakama you'd better be willing to accept the consequences."

The dust had begun to settle and the silhouettes were becoming more visible. Buggy's top half was face-first in the ground with Luffy sitting on his back. Luffy's hand was strewn through Buggy's hair as if to hold it in its subdued position.

"Bwat" Buggy's muffled voice said moments before his hands dislocated from his arms and made to attack Luffy.

That wasn't nearly as effective as he would've hoped as Luffy had, aside from his monstrous strength, unbelievable speed. Luffy swatted Buggy's dagger-wielding hands away with quick well-placed kicks.

"Get offa me wou bwat!" Buggy whined and dislocated every part he could.

That meant only his head got taken prisoner.

For a moment Luffy and Buggy stared at one another.

"How can you be so weak, anyway? You and Shanks started off the same and now you terrorize small towns in East Blue while he's one of the Yonkou."

Buggy's eyebrow twitched.

"ARE YOU TRYING TO PISS ME OFF?" He screamed, eyeballs white from fury.

Luffy sighed and shrugged.

"I was really hoping for more. Instead I find this pitiful weakling terrorizing a village to make himself feel better about his tiny penis size."

Everyone, including Luffy's own crew, sweatdropped at Luffy's random comment.

"Nami-chan, it looks like you'll be getting that treasure chest after all."

The fight between Buggy and Luffy couldn't be called much of a fight at all. The gist of it was Luffy punching Buggy flying for miles. And that was it.

"Well, this was a total waste of time." Sabo commented nonchalantly.

"Really, I was hoping for a fight." Zoro said, also quite bored.

"What are you two talking about? This is awesome!" Nami on the other hand was in Nirvana as she cuddled the treasure chest. Suddenly another thought occurred to her.

"You!" She barked and pointed towards a random pirate from Buggy's crew. "Where's the rest of the treasure? And the Grand Line map? If you don't get them for me- er us- my captain will beat you up! Right captain?" Nami finished evilly and shot the last part towards Luffy who had already sat down and stuffed his face with food from Buggy's banquet.

"Yeah. Sure." Luffy replied and gave Nami thumbs up, probably not even noticing what he was agreeing to.

Nevertheless it was enough to intimidate the shit out of Buggy's crew and they immediately scurried off to comply with Nami's 'request'.

Some time later the group left Orange Town and headed back to port.

* * *

><p>Finally the group arrived at Gecko Island. It was a tiny island that was only big enough to support one village. And that one village was Syrup Village. Luffy could barely sit still from excitement. Sabo had explained that an old friend of theirs was a first-rate sharpshooter and that his son was living on this island and that Luffy was hoping he could recruit him as their own sharpshooter.<p>

"But don't say anything; I want to test him first." Luffy said and made shushing sound while bouncing around, too eager to get to land.

Luffy didn't pay much attention to the conversation his travel-mates were having. He was sitting on the very top of the boat and practically sparkling with excitement.

"Should we be worried about him?" Nami asked out loud.

"That's the kind of guy he is, miss navigator. Believe it or not this is him being completely serious." Sabo explained.

Nami and Zoro raised an eyebrow.

"You don't need to be alarmed though; he's very devoted to his friends regardless how he is usually behaving. The only time he actually 'acts' serious, in the traditional sense of the word, is when an enemy really angers him. Trust me, that is something you don't want to see, sadly it's probably inevitable."

At that moment the boat pulled up on the sandy shore. Luffy jumped off.

"Let's go find something to eat, then see what's there to see here."

_Should have figured_ Nami and Zoro both thought as they climbed off the boat.

"It feels pretty damn nice to stand on solid ground again." Zoro said and stretched.

"That's because you were asleep the entire way. We made another stop at an island about a day ago." Nami scolded the swordsman lightly.

"By the way, I just noticed a moment ago…" Zoro said and gained his companions attention. "What are those kids doing over there?"

He pointed towards land where four young kids had been hiding.

"Wahh! We've been found!" Three younger kids freaked out immediately.

"Stop being such scaredy cats!" The fourth, older one, scolded the younger boys.

"Are you guys travelers?" The older kid asked the four companions.

"We're pirates." Luffy replied bluntly, making Nami smack her forehead.

At that the kids ran away screaming, leaving the older boy alone. The lone young man stood up and crossed his arms.

"Fellow pirates, huh? Listen here strangers, I am the great pirate fleet leader "Captain Usopp". This village is under my command and if you try to attack it me and my 80 million men will not forgive you!"

Luffy cocked his head, really confused.

"Where are your men? There's barely 1000 people on this island, none who are fighter material… No wait, there _is_ one."

Nami and Sabo shook their heads at her captain's selective naivety.

"You're lying, right?" She asked the boy.

"Aah! Caught!" Usopp grabbed his head and freaked out.

"And you said it yourself."

Usopp completely lost his cool head and wailed at himself for bad planning. Or something like that. Nevertheless Luffy was laughing his butt off. Usopp apparently didn't like being laughed at like that. He stopped berating himself in favor of being angry at the young pirate captain.

"Don't underestimate me. I'm a man with high self-esteem."

Luffy stopped laughing and looked the young man in the eyes. Then took a few steps towards the teen. Usopp was about to reach for his slingshot when the straw-hat wearing young man disappeared only to reappear in front of him fraction of a second later. Usopp 'eep'ed in surprise and the strange youth put his hand in the middle of Usopp's face to cover his nose.

"Shishishishi. Aside from the nose and black hair you really are a spitting image of Yasopp." Luffy giggled. "You're his son Usopp, right?"

"You know my dad?" Usopp exclaimed in surprise.

"Sure, he's an old friend of mine. Say Usopp, is there a place to eat around here?"

A while later, after Usopp was convinced the pirates had no interest in pillaging the village, he took the group to the local food joint called 'Meshi'.

"So… you're in town looking for companions and a ship?" Usopp asked as they were eating.

"Mhmm." Luffy nodded as he tore into his meat.

"There's only one ship-owner in the entire village. It's not a very large ship but it's not that small either. The owner of the ship belongs to a wealthy family and lives in that mansion."

"Is that so?" Sabo said, not too enthusiastic, considering how picky Luffy had been so far.

"Well, we say she's the owner but really she's just a weak frail girl. Her parents died about a year ago from sickness and left her everything." Usopp sighed. "Not all the money in the world could save you from sorrow, I guess."

There was a moment of silence.

"Let's forget about searching for a ship in this village and look elsewhere." Nami sighed and shook her head.

"That's fine, but we're absolutely in no hurry. For one thing I want more meat in our supply." Luffy agreed with his navigator, but not for the same reasons.

"By the way, you mentioned earlier that you were looking for companions." Usopp gained Luffy's attention.

"Mhmm? Is there someone here that wants to be our companion?" Luffy asked with a wide grin.

"Let me be the captain, and I'll join you!" Usopp exclaimed dramatically.

"Never mind." Nami and Zoro said while letting their heads fall limp on their chests in a show of disappointment. Sabo was impassive but Luffy started laughing quite uproariously.

"Alright!" He said much to the surprise of everyone. "_If_ you can beat me in a one-on-one."

The shock wore off immediately and the group shook their heads with smirks. _That_ sounded more like their captain.

"One-on-one?" Usopp asked, surprised.

"Well, of course! Traditionally the captain should be one of the strongest, if not _the_ strongest, fighters in a pirate crew. Following someone one could beat too easily would bo way too embarrassing."

"Never mind." Usopp let his head fall on his chest as a sign of giving up.

"AH! I just remembered I need to be somewhere. Well then I guess I'll see you later!" Usopp then hightailed out of the tavern.

"Didn't you want that guy as our sharpshooter?" Zoro asked, a bit skeptical.

Luffy shrugged nonchalantly.

"Like I said, we're not in any hurry."

Luffy continued with his meal like he didn't have a worry in the world, which he probably didn't at that moment. Zoro and Nami ordered a pint each and had a friendly competition of who could finish theirs first. The loser had to take up crow's nest duty first once they got their ship. Zoro won by a fraction. Though he was damn impressed by the ginger navigator's ability to keep up with him.

"Ne, Zoro, I challenge you to drink the captain under the table tonight." Nami said evilly in a form of revenge. Apparently she didn't like losing bets very much.

"Ne, cap'n, how about a drinking contest with me tonight?" Zoro asked, his pride not allowing him to turn down such a challenge.

"Sure!" Luffy agreed cheerfully and proceeded to finish his meat. Sabo had a hard time maintaining his pokerface.

Suddenly the door burst open and three young boys stormed in.

"USOPP PIRATE GROUP IS HERE!" They shouted together.

Nami leaned on her seat to look towards the ruckus. "Who are they?" She wondered.

"No idea." Luffy responded and lifted his mug.

"They look like the three scaredy-cats from when we arrived." Sabo said calmly.

"Oh, you're right!" Luffy exclaimed with a nod and started downing his drink.

Suddenly the boys seemed to freak a bit and rushed to their table.

"Y-you pirates! What have you done with Captain Usopp?" The middle boy wearing an odd green hat shouted.

"Give him back!" The other two boys backed their friend.

It was at that moment that Luffy slammed his empty mug on the table and exclaimed out loud happily. "Maaan, that was some good meat!"

The three young boys huddled together in fright and shock.

"Meat?"

"D-don't tell me captain was…!"

"What did you do to him?"

It was then Zoro gained an extra evil look.

"Your captain was just… delicious." He said with an insane glint in his eyes.

The three boys cried out and called Nami a hag at the same time for some reason. Nami, who had been amused up until now, lost all sense of humor and almost seemed to actually turn into a hag as she clobbered the poor kids for calling her that.

"Stop telling them such weird things!" She turned back to Zoro, who was busy laughing his ass off along with Luffy and Sabo.

Sabo got off his seat to help the traumatized kids off the floor and explained how they were just joking.

"So captain said he needs to be somewhere and left by himself?" They echoed Sabo's explanation.

"Oh, then he went to the mansion." The green hat wearing boy, Piiman, exclaimed.

"Where the sick girl lives?" Nami asked, surprised.

"Why does he go there?" Luffy wondered, surprised as well.

"To tell lies!" Ninjin, the boy with a black hoodie and hair that hid his eyes, replied.

The pirates sweatdropped. The way the boys acted that seemed like actually a decent thing to do. Then the boys explained how Usopp went to the mansion to tell the girl tall tales to cheer her up.

"Wow, what a nice guy!" Luffy exclaimed. "How's his sharpshooting skills?" He asked, seemingly randomly.

The boys looked surprised.

"How did you know captain was good with a slingshot?" The bespectacled boy, Tamanegi, asked.

"Slingshot?" The pirates echoed in surprise.

"Yes, captain can shoot pachinko balls like they were bullets!" Piiman exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

"Really? That's not something you hear every day." Sabo mused, mildly impressed.

"Let's check that out later." Luffy agreed with his brother. "By the way, you said the mansion owner feels better after hearing Usopp's lies."

The three boys nodded.

"Alrighty. Let's go ask her for a ship." Luffy decided, but Nami didn't like that idea.

"No! Didn't you just say you'd give it up!" She protested.

"There's no harm in asking, Nami-chan. It's not like I'm going to steal it."

"He does have a point." Zoro agreed.

Nami only massaged her temples.

"Fine, but not today. I want a nice soft bed to sleep in tonight." She said finally.

"Why can't we do that and still ask her today?" Luffy asked, confused.

"Just in case people react badly and want to drive us out of town."

Luffy accepted the explanation with a grin. Sabo however didn't see why people would react so aggressively even if they were turned down by the mansion's owner. He shrugged and decided to indulge her this time. As Luffy said: they were not in any hurry.

* * *

><p>After they were all full they went to rent rooms in an inn. It was a small establishment and didn't look like it saw much business. They rented two rooms, one for the men and another for Nami alone. Personally Luffy didn't see why one of them couldn't share a room with Nami, but he's come to accept that men and women don't usually like sharing rooms. Though, he still couldn't see why.<p>

Some time later they split up. Luffy left to find Usopp, Nami and Sabo went to find excessive amount of alcohol for the evening's drinking competition and Zoro snoozed in the inn.

Luffy found Usopp easily since he had the second strongest spirit among the entire island, if you didn't include Luffy's own companions. Luffy had been wondering about the other warrior-level person living in Syrup Village, but right now he had more pressing urges.

"Yo!" He greeted the young sharpshooter loudly.

Usopp yelped, jumped in surprise and lost his aim, shooting a small ball of paint into the sky instead of the painted target.

The budding sniper twirled around and came face-to-face with the straw hat wearing pirate captain.

"When did you sneak up on me!" Usopp inquired loudly while massaging his palpitating heart.

"Just now. I haven't even had the chance to see if your sniping skills are up to par with your old man's."

Usopp blushed, feeling slightly embarrassed by Luffy's upbeat attitude.

"To be honest I wouldn't know. I haven't seen him in over ten years." He admitted shyly.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot. This is for you. It's from your dad." Luffy aloofly threw a flintlock pistol at Usopp who caught it clumsily.

"My dad?" Usopp echoed, disbelieving.

"Yup. I promised him I'd deliver that gift regardless whether you joined my crew or not!" Luffy grinned while rocking himself back and forth in a childish fashion.

Usopp had been distracted by the pistol, admiring it like it was the most precious gem, so he almost missed what Luffy said afterwards.

"Ha? What did you say?"

Luffy blinked for a few times before it finally hit home. Then he clamped both hands to his mouth.

"Whoops. I didn't mean to say that out loud. Please forget it." The look on Luffy's face gave Usopp the impression he meant it literally.

"Uh…"

Awkward silence ensued. Luffy barely noticed though.

"So…" Usopp tried to fill the silence. "Y-you wanted me as a nakama?"

Luffy pouted.

"You were supposed to forget it." Spontaneously the smile was back a moment later. "Ah, well, I guess you can't. Yeah, I may be here to see if I want you in my crew. Your dad really _loved_ telling tales about you. I swear my ears were ready to fall off. So I asked if he would shut up if I made you my nakama." Luffy took a pause to laugh. "He didn't, but he did give me that pistol to give to you. I got to say, though. I pretty much like what I've seen so far. So show me some sniping too."

Usopp wasn't quite sure how to handle the exuberant teen. So he nervously opted to do as asked and show his skill with a slingshot. He hit the mark bulls-eye.

"Nice. Now hit that!" Luffy requested cheerfully, pointing to a mark much farther away, and a lot more difficult to hit.

"You want me to hit that tree there?" Usopp asked, not really worried. He could do it.

"No." Luffy snorted. "I want you to hit that hole in the tree."

Usopp looked at the tree again. The hole looked barely big enough.

"Are you serious?" He exclaimed, his eyes wide.

"Yasopp could shoot the antennae off an ant halfway across town."

Oh yeah, _that_ was helping Usopp's nerves. Gulping he steadied his slingshot and released the pellet. It slightly nicked the edge of the hole, but otherwise hit home. A loud screeching was heard and a pissed off, bleached white squirrel popped out of the hole. Luffy held his stomach from laughing.

"Oh, poor squirrel! I wouldn't want to wake up getting paint all over me. Nice shooting though, Usopp."

"Of course! I'm just that good!" Usopp bragged though he had honestly expected to miss.

Luffy giggled. Usopp and Luffy ended up talking until sunset. They traded stories about mostly Yasopp and the tales that Usopp told Kaya to cheer her from her gloom. Luffy found the ones especially amusing that were accidentally true, like one with Sky Island and the goldfish turd islands. He didn't tell Usopp they were true though.

* * *

><p>Around the time of sunset Luffy went to the inn. Sabo and Nami were in the boys' room, enjoying a drink and some snacks.<p>

"Hey, cap'n. Where've you been?" Nami asked. She seemed to be in high spirits.

"I went to talk with Usopp. He's not half-bad of a sniper. What did you do?" Luffy replied.

"Nothing much. This sleepy village doesn't have anything interesting. Though we did get the grog for tonight." Nami pointed towards about a dozen kegs in the room.

"Really? What's going to happen tonight?" Luffy asked.

Sabo and Nami turned towards the young captain.

"You are supposed to have a drinking competition with Zoro." Nami deadpanned.

"Really?" Luffy asked, surprised.

Sabo rolled his eyed. "Luffy doesn't always notice his surroundings when he's eating." He explained.

Nami accepted the fact with a shrug.

"Well, I challenged our swordsman to challenge you for a drinking competition, so he challenged you and you accepted." Nami said with an evil grin.

"But you know the outcome already." Luffy pointed out, confused.

"Yes, exactly." There was a sinister glint in the navigator's eyes. "Zoro's going down!" She cackled.

"Speaking of Zoro, where is he?" Luffy asked after noticing the marimo missing.

"He went for a walk shortly before we returned to the room, we ran into him in the middle of the village. Though, he should be getting back just about now." Nami explained.

It was an hour later when Zoro finally came into the room.

"Yo, Zoro! Where have you been?" Luffy shouted cheerfully.

"For a walk." The swordsman grumbled.

"Zooroo got loost~" Nami mocked slyly.

By the pissed off look she received she was spot on.

"Bet you can't beat the captain in drinking." She goaded.

"What're the stakes?" Zoro replied confidently.

"Hmm… How about… the loser has to take the other one's every single crow's nest duty for a year."

"Deal."

Luffy opened his mouth, but Sabo placed his hand on his shoulder to keep him from saying anything.

The next morning Zoro wore an icepack on his head; his captain's cheerful laughing not making him feel any better either. The biggest blow to his ego however was the ginger's gloating look.

* * *

><p>Luffy, Sabo and Nami went to the mansion while Zoro opted to stay at the inn to sleep off his hangover somewhat.<p>

"So… this is the gate." Luffy stated the obvious.

"So… now what?" Nami asked, still not wanting to bother the ailing rich girl.

She turned her head to look at her captain only to realize he wasn't there.

"Let's just go in." Luffy said- from on top of the gate. Nami sweatdropped.

"He's pretty sure about himself, isn't he?" Nami whispered to Sabo.

"Luffy life policy is to live his life without regrets." Sabo answered with a chuckle.

Nami sighed in an irritated fashion and rubbed her temples. "I guess if I can't stop him I'll just have to follow him."

Sabo, being the gentlemanly pirate he is, helped Nami climb faster and the two ran to catch up with Luffy.

"Hello!" Luffy shouted cheerfully as he spotted Usopp telling a blonde a story through a window.

"W-what are you doing here?" Usopp shouted in surprise, not having expected to see the young captain to show up in Kaya's yard.

"Askin' for a favor." Luffy replied cheerfully. He turned his head towards Kaya. "Hey there! You must be the Princess of this estate."

Kaya blushed slightly at Luffy's choice of words which made Usopp's eyebrow twitch with annoyance.

"I-I'm not really a princess." She stammered slightly embarrassed but pleased nonetheless. "You wanted a favor?"

"Yup. You see, my crew and I are in a need of a ship." Luffy sent a wide grin at Kaya.

"YOU THERE! What are you doing here?" Another voice interrupted their conversation. The owner of the voice was a man that looked to be in his 30s, and he did not look happy.

"Ugh, the butler…" Usopp whispered with a look of severe dislike.

"Kurahadol!" Kaya exclaimed.

Luffy and Sabo tensed momentarily. They both had sensed there was a non-civilian type in the village, but both had assumed it was either someone retired or on vacation. But this person was a man in his prime and working as a butler. Maybe he was also a bodyguard? It wasn't that much of a stretch of imagination. The brothers shared a look and shrugged it off for now.

"You are trespassing here!" He barked, ill-tempered and confident. Oh yeah, definitely part of the security.

"Kurahadol, these people-" Kaya started.

"You don't need to tell me now. I'll listen later." He said boldly.

Luffy raised an eyebrow and another thought about the man's identity occurred to him.

"Please vacate the premises immediately. Or do you have something to say?"

"Are you her fiancé?" Luffy asked bluntly.

The reactions varied: Usopp fell over in shock, Kaya spluttered and went red at the very idea, Nami had no idea how her captain came up with _that _idea and wanted to slap her forehead, but Sabo found his little brother's question plausible. Kurahadol turned into a statue for a moment before readjusting his glasses with his palm.

"What made you come up with such a ludicrous idea?" He demanded. Not asked, demanded.

"Just your general behavior towards your master. A servant isn't allowed to speak out of terms like that unless under special circumstances." Sabo explained, remembering his childhood and how his parents treated _their_ servants.

"Ah no! He's just looking after me!" Kaya claimed, trying to avoid even more embarrassment.

"You're far too lenient, Princess. Not _everyone_ have your best interest at heart." Luffy said with his brows furrowed. This girl was really soft-hearted and also quite naïve. The wakeup-call would hurt like a bitch when or if it comes.

The light glinted off Kurahadol's glasses ominously. He turned his gaze towards Usopp.

"You're Usopp, are you not?" He stated. "I've heard some rumors about you. The villagers talk."

"Ho? You can call me Captain Usopp. Everyone does." Usopp said with a false cocky smile.

"I've heard rumors about your father as well." Kurahadol said cruelly. "You are just the son of a low class pirate."

Kurahadol's goal was to goad Usopp and he seemed to succeed quite well, but he didn't foresee the other male teens to burst out laughing.

"Yasopp a low class pirate?" Luffy giggled.

"Maybe in another reality." Sabo said as he tried to catch his breath again.

"Ne, guys, if the sniper of one of the Yonkou is a low class pirate, then what's an elite pirate?" Luffy asked through tears.

"Speaking of pirates. We need a ship, Princess, but you never gave us an answer before."

Nami sweatdropped slightly at her captain's strange thinking patterns. Though, pirates and ships _are_ pretty intimately involved.

"Absolutely not!" Kurahadol barked.

"Oh sorry. I was under the impression the ship belonged to Princess." Luffy said an honest apology.

"It _does_ belong to her but-" Kurahadol started but he was interrupted by a pissed off Luffy.

"Then why's you answer instead?"

Kurahadol opened his mouth to answer but Luffy made a sharp shushing sound to silence him. He glared at the potential pirate captain as he turned back towards Kaya.

"So what do you say?"

Kaya looked uncertainly towards Kurahadol and bit her lip for awhile.

"I-I'm sorry, but I don't even know you…"

Luffy turned his Puppy Eyes of Doom at the ailing girl.

"You won't? Are you sure? Are you certain you won't change your mind?" He pouted.

Kaya blushed at the absolutely adorable look the young pirate sported.

"Sorry." She apologized sincerely.

Luffy shrugged nonchalantly.

"Ah well, happens. Let's see how Zoro is doing. Nice meetin' ya, Princess!"

The trio went on their way.

"Want to come too, Usopp?" Luffy shouted back before they made it to the gate.

"Yeah, poking people who have hangovers with sticks is always fun!" Nami added as well.

_Are you trying to kill him?_ Sabo thought at Nami's comment.

* * *

><p>Usopp did leave with them, but he didn't go the see how Zoro's hangover was, instead he said he wanted to be alone for a moment. The gang decided to let Usopp do as he pleased. Right now they were enjoying a grumbling swordsman. Usually Zoro didn't have hangovers; however his competitive streak made him drink nearly up to alcohol poisoning the night before. So here he was: enjoying his mortality.<p>

"By the way, Luffy, did you notice the other non-civilian type appear today?" Sabo asked while Zoro was nursing his water.

"Hmm?" Luffy blinked and concentrated on his kenbunshoku haki.

"Hey, you're right! Though, he's not _that_ strong." Luffy replied.

"What're you, psychics?" Zoro grumbled, his mood understandably sour.

"In a manner of speaking." Sabo said mysteriously.

"Nope, this is haki." Luffy said and rolled his eyes.

"I remember you said that's something you'll teach us." Nami said as she remembered the young captain mention something about it a few days ago.

"What is haki anyway?" Zoro asked.

Luffy got more comfortable before starting his explanation.

"Haki in the literal sense means ambition. Every human being can potentially learn to use the two main branches of haki, however most people lack the drive needed to unlock it. I'm quite positive both of you are capable of equipping haki with some prodding. So far it's simple, right?"

Nami and Zoro nodded.

"The two main branches are called kenbunshoku and busoshoku haki. The one Sabo and I were just talking about, the one you had us dubbed 'psychic', is the former. Kenbunshoku, or the 'color of observation', is sort of a sixth sense that tells you where your opponent is when you can't see them, how many there are, and even what they're planning on physically doing next."

Zoro immediately remembered Luffy's blindfolded fight against Morgan.

"Kenbunshoku haki is sort of 'hearing' a person's very spirit." At that Luffy shuddered. "Hearing the 'voice' 'disappear' when a person dies is one of the most morbid things one could experience though."

"What did you mean by non-civilian type you mentioned earlier?" Zoro asked.

"Kenbunshoku haki can also be used to determine a person's potential strength in battle. That butler-guy for instance, he's someone who has probably taken someone's life with marvelous success." Sabo said, coming out sounding a bit darker than he had planned. Nami felt a shudder run down her spine. "Also the more skill you have the wider and more accurate your range is."

"Usually you need hard training or severe mental shock or stress to awaken any sort of haki, however I've heard of a case when a person is actually born with it active." Luffy and Sabo took off their respective headwear. "May she rest in peace." Then they both put their hats back and went on like nothing happened.

"The other one, busoshoku haki- or the 'color of armaments', is sort of like wearing an invisible armor. However that armor doesn't weight anything and it doesn't constrict your movements in the slightest. If anything it actually gives you more speed if controlled skillfully." Luffy explained while Sabo stood up and took out his bo staff.

He swung it at Luffy hard, but it bounced back slightly before it could make contact. "Of course that 'armor' could be used as weapon as well if you augment your offensive attacks with it. If Sabo had used haki against me it would've penetrated my own and _that_ would've _hurt_!"

Nami and Zoro could _feel_ the resonation the harsh blow created in the air. Sabo had not hit his brother lightly in the least.

Sabo flicked Luffy's forehead.

"Ow!" Luffy exclaimed and glared at his brother who only laughed.

"Another thing it's useful for is that it penetrates any advantage a Devil's Fruit gives a person. For example Luffy, being a rubber man, is almost immune to blunt damage."

The two 'students' chuckled while Luffy only pouted and kept rubbing his forehead.

"Those are the two main branches of haki the every person has, even if they live and die without once awaking it. There is a third variation of haki, however that is something only a select few are born with." Sabo said once Nami and Zoro had settled.

"The third type is called haoshoku haki, or the 'king's disposition'. It is something only about one out of a million could potentially use. Luffy is one of them… and so is Ace…" Sabo pouted.

Luffy patted his brother's hand consolingly.

"There, there, Sabo. You're plenty strong even without it."

Sabo ruffled Luffy's hair, making his straw hat fall off. Luffy let out an angry protest and pulled it back on.

"Haoshoku haki's function is to literally overpower your opponent's will with your own. It can be used to tame simple-minded beasts instantly and knock people with inferior wills unconscious. There are people whose wills are strong enough to attain immunity, though." Luffy explained the last part.

"That's what you did to that bastard son of Morgan's." Zoro realized.

"Yep." Luffy nodded and let a burst of his haki loose in the room. Zoro felt a strong chill go down his, but Nami grasped her chest and started panting while breaking into cold sweat.

"Oh, sorry, Nami-chan. I haven't completely mastered my control, but at least I know enough not to knock anyone out by accident." Luffy apologized sheepishly.

"What the hell did you do that for?" Nami asked, actually screamed, once her breathing was back in control.

"Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to give a demonstration. Should've done it a bit lighter though. Measuring quantities is also something I can't control perfectly yet, but it's better than my aim."

Nami stole Zoro's water in hopes to wash away the lingering shivers. Zoro was too distracted to protest.

"Do you think I may have that?" He asked in hope.

The brothers shrugged.

"The possibilities are one in a million, though the world's strongest are more likely to have it. There's a reason why it's called '_king's_ disposition'. Of course even if you don't have it, it doesn't mean you have any less potential." Sabo explained.

"How many do you know of, besides Luffy and your other brother, who have it?" Nami asked and Zoro finally noticed his water bottle missing.

"Well, there's Whitebeard and Shanks- two of the Yonkou. I'm not sure about the other two. Then there's the old pirate king, Roger, and his first mate Rayleigh. Uh- I think that's all." Sabo replied while scratching his chin in thought.

"You forgot Hancock!" Luffy piqued in cheerfully.

Sabo bit his knuckle to keep from laughing out loud. "Yes, there's also the empress of the all-female Kuja warriors. She's quite notorious for hating all things male." Zoro and Nami cocked their head in confusion, not understanding what's so funny. Luffy was highly surprised.

"Really? Hancock's always been nice to me."

Sabo coughed into his hand in an attempt to keep himself from cackling.

"You'll understand if you ever run into them. That poor woman." He giggled while Luffy whined in confusion.

"_Everyone_!"

Someone screamed outside. The quartet turned to look out the window. Usopp was running down the street screaming his lungs out.

"_Pirates are coming to attack tomorrow! Run for your lives_!"

The group watched as people started coming out of their houses armed with spatulas, skillets and broomsticks. They started arguing with Usopp who tried to convince people that there were honest-to-god pirates planning on attacking tomorrow morning. Finally the villagers chased to aspiring sniper away, none too gently too.

"He seemed pretty convinced there will be pirates attacking tomorrow morning." Sabo commented.

"Don't worry your heads over it, dear guests."

The group looked down their window to see the kindly landlady.

"He's been doing this for years. He runs around the town each morning without fail, screaming his head off about pirates attacking." The chubby lady chuckled. "Although, he does usually do that in the morning instead of the evening." She tutted and went back to her sweeping.

Luffy sucked his lips in thought.

"Usopp genuinely did seem to believe there is going to be tomorrow morning." Sabo spoke what Luffy was thinking.

"What makes you think that?" Nami asked.

"I don't know what he's thinking, but he _felt_ really scared." He replied.

"Anyway, let's go see what's going on."

The group left the inn in a leisurely stroll, following where Luffy and Sabo claimed Usopp to be. They found him laughing loudly at his three friends.

"Hahahahaha, I just said it because I hate that butler." He laughed uproariously, though if you listened closely you could detect it being without any humor.

The three boys didn't look amused much.

"I don't like the captain doing that." Ninjin said.

"Me neither." Piiman nodded.

"Even though that butler is a jerk, captain shouldn't make up stories to hurt anyone." Tamanegi added.

The three boys left to have dinner, passing the four pirates with a nod of greeting.

"Let's take a look at that wound of yours." Sabo nodded towards the arm Usopp had been hiding behind his back and pulled out a firs aide kit from his top hat.

They patched him up and put a bit more distance between the village and themselves.

"So, wanna tell us what's really going on?" Luffy asked.

Usopp sighed and stared at his toes.

"Kurahadol is- was- really the captain of Black Cat Pirates, Captain Kuro. He wanted to quit being a pirate without the marines after his tail, so he made an elaborate plan where a fake was executed in his stead. He's planning on having Kaya hypnotized to write a will leaving everything to him. And then… _kill her_. Because I'm a regular liar no one will believe me."

Usopp gripped his trousers tightly and shook all over with emotion.

"Everyone thinks tomorrow will be a peaceful day…" Usopp stopped shaking and he jumped to his feet in determination. "So I will make sure my truth will actually become a lie!"

Luffy grinned.

"Admirable determination. But… can you really fight them alone?" Sabo asked.

Usopp jumped. "You're saying I'm scared of them? I'm not scared! Even though they got more people!" He screamed with tears in his eyes. His knees were shaking.

Luffy's grin widened.

Usopp started beating his quaking knees in a futile attempt to still them. "Stop staring like that! Of course I'm scared! What normal person wouldn't be?"

Luffy's grin widened to an almost impossible width.

"Which is why we'll fight alongside with you tomorrow." He declared. "Because that's what nakama are for."

Usopp looked at Luffy with wide eyes. "Nakama? But I'm not even part of your crew."

The grin on Luffy's face looked like it could literally split his face in half.

"Say that again tomorrow after the battle."

Sabo and Zoro grinned. After all, the bonds forged with blood were often the strongest.

* * *

><p>Being as the island was on a cliff-like setting there were two possibilities where the pirates could attack from, and Luffy and Sabo located them and picked the more obvious route, even though Usopp believed it to be the other. The slopes on either side of the island were the only way in because the steep cliffs that otherwise surrounded the isle, so Usopp naturally believed it to be the slope closer to the village. The brothers however claimed that the pirates docked near the other one. So to ease Usopp's mind they poured oil all over the first slope making crossing it even more difficult than climbing the cliff.<p>

"By the way, how come you didn't know before that there were pirates nearby?" Nami asked the obvious question in Zoro's head.

"They were waiting on their ship too far away." Luffy replied.

"There's a limit how far you can sense. The farther and more accurately you want the more concentration you need." Sabo added.

"Could you have sensed them if you had concentrated harder?" Usopp asked (he had been filled in about haki by Nami, just to kill time).

The brothers shrugged. "Possibly. Depending how much our distance is." Sabo said.

"My immediate sensing range is about half a kilometer. If I concentrate I can stretch out nearly to ten. Sabo can sense even farther." Luffy added.

"It is possible to have that haki fail in battle though, if you get flustered enough to lose your concentration." Sabo informed.

"Speaking of battle, we have to be really strong to hold our ground with an entire crew of pirates. So, what are your skills?" Usopp asked suddenly.

"I cut." Zoro.

"I stretch." Luffy.

"I steal." Nami.

"I pound." Sabo.

"I hide." Usopp.

"YOU FIGHT TOO!" Zoro and Nami yelled ill-tempered.

"Actually, hiding is not bad idea with how his skills are at this point." Luffy placated his nakama.

Zoro and Nami looked at heir captain as if he lost his marbles.

"What my brother is trying to say is that snipers, as good as they are in ranged combat, are generally very weak in hand-to-hand." Sabo took up explaining.

"Especially Usopp right now as he is." Luffy added bluntly, making Usopp hung his head in embarrassment. "I'm definitely going to have to teach him what to do if cornered, but right now it would be way better for all of us if he were to hide someplace safe to take out the enemy. So right now the question remains…" The brim of Luffy's hat cast a shadow over his eyes ominously, making Usopp feel shivers. "… Are you willing to do what needs to be done?"

"What do you mean?" Usopp asked, even though he had a feeling he knew where this was going.

"Are you willing to take a life in order to save a life?"

The shivers turned chilling, making Usopp's blood run cold.

"I d-don't necessarily need to. Right? I can just stun them." He said, his voice shaking.

The group didn't say anything for a while, just stood quietly, the only sound that could be hear were the waves of the sea and the wind in the treetops.

"Yes, you can just do that." Luffy started, his voice grave. "But then they will keep getting up, and up, until they have reached their goal."

Usopp's fists twitched.

"You'll probably be dead, as they'll probably find your hiding place."

Now they clenched.

"That is if you're lucky. Some men _reeaally_ like torturing their victims."

Cold sweat broke on Usopp's face.

"Then they'll storm the village, burning down all the houses."

Cold sweat spread all over his body now.

"Finally, they'll reach the mansion."

Usopp squeezed his eyes shut.

"They'll go inside her bedroom, where's she's still sleeping, or already awake from all the noise coming from the village."

Usopp started shaking. "Shut up…" He whispered weakly.

"I wonder what methods they'll use to get her to sign the will…?"

"Shut up!" Usopp grounded, this time more loudly.

"I personally doubt they'll kill her after she's done. Men oftentimes get lonely out on the sea, so they'll probably…"

"Shut up! _Shut up_!"

"…rip open her white nightgown and proceed to…"

"SHUT UP!"

Usopp threw a wild punch at Luffy. The fist connected with his jaw and the force made him fall over. Usopp grabbed the fallen captain by his red shirt.

"Those scumbags will NEVER lay even ONE FINGER on her! I won't let them! If I have to I will… I will… _I will kill them all_!" He screamed madly, tears streaming down his face.

Luffy smirked and got on his feet again.

"Yes. That's the determination that will save her. But don't forget that we're here as well. We will stand by you to protect what you hold dear." Luffy nodded. "Now let's go to the other slope."

The group turned to walk but then Luffy stopped suddenly.

"Oh, and…" He turned towards Usopp and punched him in the jaw, making the young sharpshooter fly a couple of meters away with a yelp of pain and surprise. "… Now we're even."

The most surprised person of the group was Sabo. He had never in a million years thought he'd see Luffy mimic Garp's _Fist of Love_. It seems like he already saw his nakama as family.

* * *

><p>Zoro, Sabo and Luffy watched patiently as the ship with a black cat figurehead pulled up right in front of the slope. Nami and Usopp had hidden somewhere nearby. Usopp was armed with his usual slingshot and also the flintlock pistol he recently inherited.<p>

"Hey, that ship's kind of cute." Luffy said as the enemy captain's voice faintly carried over giving his motivational speech.

"You like it?" Sabo asked.

"I've always kind of liked felines. They're delicious!"

Zoro sweatdropped. Luffy apparently is content to eat _every_ kind of meat as long as it isn't straight out cannibalism.

"Hmm?" Suddenly Sabo sat up straight and turned towards the village.

"Something wrong?" Zoro asked.

"There's a person with a heavy injury in Kaya's mansion." Sabo replied.

"That girl?" Zoro shouted with a start.

"No, it's someone else. But he's barely hanging in there. It's probably the work of that butler."

"Go help him. We've got things under control here." Luffy said without a hint of worry.

Sabo nodded and disappeared towards the village.

Luffy jumped up from the ground and walked into the middle of the slope, directly on the pirates' path. Zoro followed his captain's lead.

* * *

><p>Sabo arrived by the mansion stealthily by the time the sky had already taken a blue color. He spied the butler sitting on the front steps of the mansion. He looked impatient. However Sabo wasn't interested in the bespectacled man. His interests laid in the injured middle-aged man inside the house. He snuck around the house, careful not to be noticed, entered through a window and hurried towards the passed out servant.<p>

As he kneeled next to him he noticed the evil butler walking out of the estate towards the slope. Well, one less thing to worry about. Sabo turned his attention towards the lamb-like person. He gently turned him around after making sure there was no damage to his neck. He ripped the shredded front shirt completely off to assess the damage. The cuts were shallow enough to stop the majority of bleeding as the man lied face down, which is why he hadn't bled to death already. The wound had already started to clot, however now that there was no pressure Sabo had to hurry up with the bandaging.

As he was working the suffering man became conscious.

"Who…?" He rasped through pain.

"Sssh, don't try to speak, sir. You've lost quite a lot of blood, so any dizziness you may feel is to be expected after the searing pain subsides a bit. I recommend that you take it easy for now, Hitsuji-san*."

"The… village… miss Kaya…" The man rasped through pain.

"No need to worry, sir. My brother's got everything under control. Both the village and its princess are safe." Sabo placated.

Not a moment too soon after Sabo was finished bandaging the door opened and the blond mistress of the manor entered. She took in the sight of her bloody servant and screamed.

"Meri! What happened? Who did this to you?"

She turned to look at the swallowtail-wearing young man fearfully.

"Miss Kaya. You're really safe. Thank god." The servant, Meri, rasped.

"Really safe? What are you talking about?"

"Kurahadol!" Meri's eyes filled with tears of frustration.

Meri tearfully went on to explain how he was assaulted by Kurahadol, how he was really a pirate, and how no one believed poor Usopp as he tried to warn everybody.

"I-is everyone else in the mansion safe?"

"There's no one else in the mansion. They all left for vacation yesterday evening. Miss Kaya, everyone in this village is in danger of those pirates. If Kurahadol's goal is your treasure, then you should just give it to him. It's not worth risking everyone for."

Kaya nodded through her tears. "Yes, I will go and talk to Kurahadol now."

"Er, sorry to interrupt, but your plan is actually flawed." Sabo cut in before the girl could go on the suicide mission.

"From what Usopp told us, Kurahadol- or Kuro- would not let miss Kaya live in any scenario. If he had been just interested in the money he would've attacked the village three years ago as a pirate. He wants off the wanted list, so he faked his own capture and thus death. A friend of his is a hypnotist, and he's planning on having the young mistress write a will leaving everything to him in her demise. Just not to be suspicious the village needs to be pillaged as well." Sabo rained on their parade.

"What am I supposed to do? Everyone will…" Kaya cried.

"Don't worry, my brother and his crew are taking care of it as we speak." Sabo said with a kind smile.

"This is Captain Kuro and the Black Cats Pirates we're talking about. What can just a few kids do?" Mari cried, pessimistic.

"Just my brother alone is enough to beat them all blindfolded. Have faith."

Kaya stood up and started leaving the room.

"Where are you going, miss?" Sabo asked, but he had a feeling he already knew.

"I'm going to Kurahadol."

"Oh no, you're not! You're so weak you can barely stand. I'm afraid you'd just be in the way, madam."

"I can't just sit tight and do nothing! I'm going!"

Sabo and Kaya argued back and forth until Sabo finally gave in. He lifted the girl into his arms bridal style. She started protesting immediately.

"Stop complaining. You can barely stand by yourself. My brother and probably Usopp will be pissed at me as it is for allowing you to wander out. Just sit tight and let me carry you."

Kaya did as told with a blush. The young man's coat was unfastened and therefore she was tightly pressed against his bare chest. It's the first time she's been next to a male's bare skin that was not her immediate family. Naturally she was very embarrassed. Sabo didn't notice or expertly ignored it.

* * *

><p>Luffy had taken care of the masses by swinging his leg and letting the force it created in the air blow the bulk away. Then captain Jango, who apparently was a hypnotist, hypnotized his underlings into thinking their wounds were healed and they had ten times the strength as before. Unfortunately ten times the strength on each individual still was not enough. Then two weird guys jumped off the ship and made to attack. Luffy declared himself bored and Zoro offered to take this round.<p>

The Nyaban Brothers, as they were apparently called, bluffed about their strength, and thus managed to steal two of Zoro's swords. Luffy thought it was hilarious.

"If you want I'll take one off them off your hands." Luffy offered as the two Black Cats 'scratched' at Zoro.

"It would be embarrassing if I'd have to force my captain into fighting such weak foe." Zoro replied.

Luffy's smile widened into a grin at Zoro's answer.

"As you wish."

Suddenly a gunshot was heard and the skinny brother, Sham, fell over dead as a bullet pierced his brain. The husky brother, Buchi, momentarily overtaken by shock and grief was cut down by Zoro a moment later.

"What is going on here?" A dangerous voice asked suddenly.

Everyone turned towards the top of the slope where Captain Kuro stood.

"The sky has been bright for some time now. Why have you not acted according to plan?" He grounded ill-temperedly.

Kuro's eyes took in the dead Sham, the deathly injured Buchi, Jango and the beaten crew.

"Yo!" Luffy raised his hand in greeting.

Kuro looked at the two young enemy pirates dispassionately. He then turned to nervous-looking Jango.

"T-these kids are not ordinary." He tried to defend himself.

"Kurahadol!"

Everyone turned towards the feminine voice. Kaya had arrived in Sabo's arms. Somewhere near in the bushes Usopp flushed slightly in jealousy.

"Sabo! Why the hell did you bring her here?" Luffy yelled at his brother.

"Sorry, Lu, but she was very persistent. So then, I could've just let her walk by herself with her body as frail as it is or lend her a hand."

"You could've just knocked her out."

"I have no problem beating up women, but I can't in good grace raise a hand against a lady." Sabo scoffed. Of course by 'women' he meant 'female warriors'. "And unlike _you_ I can't knock people unconscious just by glaring at them." He finished with an eyeroll.

Kuro and Kaya proceeded to converse. Kaya asked Kuro to leave everybody alone, but Kuro only confirmed what Sabo had explained. Kaya was reduced to tears.

"Jango! I will finish these kids. You will make Kaya write a will. After that, kill her." Kuro said darkly after their conversation had ended.

"Roger that." Jango replied and made a way towards Kaya.

The next thing he knew he was being held above ground by the neck by Luffy.

"Oh my. You didn't think I would actually let you harm her, did you?"

Luffy rammed Jango face first into the stone ground, effectively knocking him unconscious.

"Zoro." Luffy said to his first mate. "This guy would be kind of a challenge to a swordsman of your skill. You won't be bored to fight this one."

"Roger that." Zoro replied with a grin, copying Jango's earlier words on purpose.

Suddenly Luffy disappeared and reappeared next to his brother.

"Since you're going to kill us, why not start with our swordsman? We won't leave from this spot. That's a promise."

Kuro, in already an extremely bad mood with things going awry, didn't argue but readied his claws to attack Zoro immediately. The battle that ensued between the two blade wielders was quite even, but in the end Zoro's fire reigned supreme.

Just as Kuro lay defeated before an injured Zoro Jango finally came to. Not realizing his former captain was defeated he panicked at the sight of Kaya and sent his chakram flying at her. The chakram was intercepted by Usopp's bullet, making it veer out of course and harmlessly into the ground. A bit less dangerous pachinko was shot at Jango's already bruised head, knocking him out cold again.

* * *

><p>"Come now, Lu, no need to be so depressed." Sabo attempted to cheer up his depressed brother helplessly.<p>

After the battle was over the beaten crew made a hasty retreat with their ship. Luffy had been feeling gloomy since he realized he let the one ship he found cool away. The only plus side is Nami's little excursion on board. However, even she wasn't satisfied with the money she found since they let the ship get away.

"Is finding a ship really that difficult?" Usopp asked.

Usopp had freshly joined the Straw Hats after the fight with Kuro the day before. The gang had given him time to say his farewells to his friends and 'disband' his own kiddie pirate group.

When they finally arrived at the docks, where their boats were, they were pleasantly surprised by Kaya and her bandaged servant Meri. However the most magnificent sight was the caravel with a lamb figurehead. Kaya looked at the band of pirates before her with a kind smile.

"You have done so much for both the village and I. As a thank you I would like to give you this ship as a present."

Luffy's eyes and mouth were wide open with wonder.

"It's so _adorable_! Are you really giving it to us?" He asked with stars in his eyes.

"Yes, please accept it." Kaya replied courteously.

Meri went on to explain how the steering and other operatives worked on it, but only Nami and Sabo paid him attention, as Zoro didn't feel the need to know it himself and Luffy decided to more or less learn as they went.

"Such a beauty. It's even nicer than that kitty-ship. I especially love the figurehead." Luffy giggled to himself as he admired his new home.

"I've prepared anything you would need to set sail." Kaya said with a kind smile.

"Aww thanks. You're really being the awesomest Princess in all of East Blue." Luffy cheered and gave Kaya a one-armed, but powerful, bear-hug.

All of the pirates, sans Usopp, climbed aboard. The young sharpshooter stayed on coast to properly say goodbye to his (not so) secret crush. It all went well with blushing and shy giggling until Kaya asked Usopp how she could ever thank him enough for all he's done for her. That was when Luffy, ever the tactful one, shouted from aboard to lay one on him, as he would probably appreciate that form of gratitude the most. Since then the goodbye felt awkward as hell.

The other pirates and Meri stuffed their knuckles in their mouths to prevent laughing out loud. Luffy never knew he said anything embarrassing.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading.<strong>

*** Hitsuji means sheep in Japanese.**

**Word count: 10, 572 (**_**mother fu*a-ha-ha*ck**_** that's long as hell) ONLY THE STORY ITSELF!**


	4. Recruiting Some More, part1

**Disclaimer: May I have One Piece Mr. Oda? No? Then I guess **_**I don't own it.**_

**Summary: Sabo was saved by Dragon when the tenryuubito, Saint Jalmack, shot his boat. He, Ace, and Luffy went out to the sea together at age 17/14. What would happen to our beloved Straw Hats if they had a captain who had experienced Grand Line once already?**

**Warnings: slight OOCness, language, gay jokes, some violence.**

**Pairings: nothing permanent between main characters, start reviewing if you want something badly (but no LuNa).**

**A/N: Feel free to send me ideas via reviews, they will be taken into consideration if they fit well (and are good). Also, I apologize for the long wait. I'm lazy, and I'm not even denying it.**

**A/N2: I'm hoping to get more reviews now that the 40,000 mark has been passed (I think). However, please, if you only review for the sake of reviewing (one-worders like 'nice' or 'good'), just don't review at all. And honestly, if some of you don't like it just say it please. Or if you do say it too, but whatever the case I'd like to know which parts you like the most. Mostly so that I can better myself.**

**Posted: 06.10.11**

* * *

><p>For a day or so Luffy was even more upbeat than usual, believe it or not. He was so happy to finally have his very own pirate vessel that he ended up teaching (forcing) his nakama to sing <em>Bink's Sake<em>. He insisted that if they couldn't get a musician right away they needed to sing by themselves. Unfortunately for the three Sabo didn't disagree with his little brother, so they had no effective backup.

Going Merry had been their ship for about 12 hours and the sun had recently set behind the horizon, though the sky was still pinkish.

"Now then!" Nami exclaimed and hit a bottle of sake on the table. "Usopp!"

The aforementioned sharpshooter jumped at the loud 'bang' sound bottle-hitting-table made, but it was the evil glint in the navigator's eyes that made him gulp. She looked as evil as a devil after his soul (or Nami after money).

"This pirate crew has a tradition." She declared loudly. "Every new recruit has to challenge the captain to a drinking competition before they can fully be a part of the gang." She declared loudly.

"D-drinking competition?" Usopp stuttered nervously.

"Whassa matter, never been drunk before?" Zoro asked with a smirk, lounging against a wall, one eye closed.

"Sure I have!" Usopp insisted a bit too strongly.

"Have you ever even drunk alcoholic beverages before?" Sabo asked, finding Usopp's nervousness a bit strange. One really should be nervous if they knew about Luffy's crazy alcohol tolerance, but he highly doubted the sniper was aware of that.

"I-idiot! Of course I have!" Usopp nearly screamed.

_Liar_ everybody thought.

"Well then, Usopp-kun, will you challenge me?" Luffy asked, as cool as a cucumber, if it hadn't been for the maniacal grin.

Usopp gulped before stomping his foot on the table in a 'heroic' pose. "This Usopp-sama, king of snipers, challenges the pirate captain Luffy to a drinking duel!" He exclaimed dramatically.

"Yosha! Let's get it on, then!" Luffy replied with a grin that made Usopp nervous again.

As Luffy and Usopp downed shots alternatively the other three made bets on the outcome. They didn't make bets on who would win, as that's kind of obvious, but rather how well and how long Usopp would hold on before succumbing.

About an hour later Usopp fell off his seat with a snore.

The winner of the bets: Zoro.

Nami and Sabo had too heavily relied on the fact that Usopp was an absolute novice when it came to drinking. Zoro took that into consideration as well, but he also believed his genes to at least somewhat help him not be _completely_ pathetic. He had been right.

* * *

><p>The next day Usopp was running around play-pretending to be a dread pirate captain defending his ship from enemy pirates. Who would've thought the boy was resistant to hangovers?<p>

"Aww, come on. Can't you guys pay attention to people?" He pouted when he noticed no one was paying him any mind.

Nami was busy examining some of her charts and maps, Zoro and Sabo were bonding over a shared favorite pastime (napping), and Luffy was busy doing something on his own, very quiet for once. Quiet means something very dangerous, right?

"What are you doing?" Usopp asked the young captain.

"I'm trying to design our pirate mark, but for some reason I can't seem to find one I like." Luffy replied with a pout, looking like a kicked puppy.

That got the attention of other members. They crowded over Luffy and took a look at some of his sketched designs. And it wasn't a wonder he didn't like any of his designs, his artistic skills were atrocious. Usopp tutted.

"You should've come to me with this. Don't you know I'm a genius painter?" He went on about bragging his having 50-years of experience with a brush, only to have it backfire as he got called and old man with grandchildren as result.

So Usopp ended up designing a pirate mark… that clearly represented himself. He got hit over the head by Zoro and Luffy for his troubles. His second design of crossbones and skull wearing a straw hat was a lot more acceptable. In fact, Luffy liked it so much he ordered Usopp to also paint it on their sails as well.

* * *

><p>Shortly after they were done with creating the mark Luffy carried a big box of cannonballs up to the deck.<p>

"Yo, Usopp-kun!" He shouted cheerfully. "Have you ever shot a cannonball before?"

Usopp, who was taking a rest after all that paintwork sat up and looked a bit baffled. "Cannonballs?"

"Yup. As our sharpshooter I hope you're good at shooting a cannonball as well. Because I know I suck at it." Luffy exclaimed happily, not the least bit ashamed to admit his personal faults.

"That's not completely true, Luffy. You're not so bad when you throw them." Sabo joined in on their conversation.

"Oh yeah! I can do that." A brief sad glint made an appearance in Luffy's eyes before it disappeared. Usopp wrote it off as a trick of light. Was Luffy even capable of sadness?

"So, how about it? Let's see if you need some practice!" Luffy turned his attention back to Usopp.

"If we head to south a little there should be a perfect place to practice." Nami added in her own two cents. "And what did Sabo mean by 'throw'?" She asked skeptically.

"Throw as in literally. Your strength is augmented dramatically when using haki." Sabo explained offhandedly. "Although even without using haki Luffy's capable of throwing stuff as heavy as cannon balls." He muttered more to himself but Nami still heard him. She sweatdropped. These guys were unreal.

"Cool. Are you going to be teaching us soon?" Usopp asked enthusiastically.

"Well, I was thinking about letting you guys relax and get used to Merry a bit more before I start the drilling." Luffy said thoughtfully while scratching his chin.

_Drilling_? Both Usopp and Nami thought nervously.

About half an hour later they reached a tiny 'island'. It wasn't actually and island as much as just a few meters of rock with moss on top sticking out of the ocean.

"Alright then. Let's see how good you are." Luffy shouted.

"Or how much luck you have." Sabo muttered quietly. Luck was very much necessary in Grand Line too, particularly the new and uninfluential crews.

And as luck, or skill, would have it Usopp's aim was dead on.

"Awesooooome!" Luffy exclaimed loudly. "You're awesome, Usopp-kun."

"Now, now, don't let him get a big head, Lu."

* * *

><p>The pirates headed inside in an attempt to find something to eat.<p>

"This reminds me. We have three positions that absolutely must be filled." Luffy said as he munched on an asparagus. What? Just because he adores meat more than healthy doesn't mean he hates other food. He still eats his veggies! Yes kiddies, if you want to grow into strong boys and girls you need to eat your greens!*

"You're right. The kitchen's so nice. If you pay me I'll do it!" Nami said slyly.

"What are you on about? Navigation's too important a position at Grand Line; we can't afford you to hold any extra positions. Besides the treasury has joint ownership with everyone, so technically I can't pay you anything you don't already own."

"Aside from a cook who else are absolutely necessary?" Zoro cut in.

"A doctor and a musician." Luffy exclaimed. "I want to get the musician first." Then Luffy looked gloomy for a moment. "Though what I want has to take back seat to what we need for now." Then he brightened up again, as if nothing happened. "Who we _need_ the most is either a doctor or a cook. If possible I'd like to recruit both before we enter the Grand Line. Cook is an obvious choice, but trust me, in that ocean we won't last very long without professional medical care."

"Any idea where to start looking?" Nami asked, as she was the one who would have to get them there.

"I don't know where we could start looking for a doctor, but a chef we are definitely getting from a floating restaurant called Baratie. Unfortunately neither me nor Sabo know where it is."

"I'll go through my maps as soon as possible." Nami nodded.

Suddenly a crash was heard from the outer deck.

"Come out you filthy pirates!" A muffled voice raged.

"Huh? When did someone sneak up on us?" Luffy thought with a mildly surprised look. "One? Two? One and a half?" He muttered, sounding confused, as he made his way outside.

"Hm? Who are you?" He asked the stranger.

"Silence, pirate! It doesn't matter who I am!" With an enraged roar he swung his sword at Luffy who dodged it almost lazily. "I have taken the heads of countless pirates. How dare you, a no-name pirate, kill my partner?" The male roared and tried to attack Luffy again, but only managed to nick some wood from the boat as his swing was evaded.

"I don't know who you are and so far I've had no bone to pick with you. But now you've damaged _my_ _ship_." At the word 'ship' Luffy rammed a fist into the man's gut making the man topple over in pain. The force of the punch made him loose his breath and a bile rose to his throat.

At that moment Zoro came out of the kitchen.

"Hm? Isn't that Johnny?" He mused out loud as he looked at the pathetic form of 'Johnny'.

"Z-Zoro-aniki!" Johnny wheezed as he tried to get some oxygen in his lungs again.

"What're you doing here alone? Where's Yosaku?" Zoro asked.

Johnny teared up and showed them another male on the dinghy next to their ship.

"A few days ago he was still healthy, but then out of the blue he passed out. His teeth started to fall out and old wounds reopened. We took a rest at that island and then… we were shot at by a cannon."

Usopp freaked out while Luffy rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Usopp bowed lowly. "I'm so very sorry!" He apologized desperately.

"It's okay. Since you apologized I won't get the police to arrest you." Johnny wept and Luffy rolled his eyes. Hello? Pirates? And this guy called himself a bounty hunter!

"Didn't you sense them at the island?" Zoro turned accusing gaze at Luffy; Sabo was suspiciously absent.

"I could've had I concentrated. The island was just about on the edge of my sensing range, but unless you specifically concentrate it's hard to tell the difference between humans and animals the further away they are." Luffy explained.

"Unless they're freakishly strong. Then they stand out like a miniature supernova." Sabo made an appearance carrying a bowl of various citrusy fruits.

"Oh!" Luffy shouted as he took in the bowl and the ill man's condition. "That's why it looked so familiar! Scurvy, right?" He exclaimed, extremely pleased with himself. Sabo nodded.

Luffy explained to Zoro, Johnny and Usopp how and why a few of his old nakama got scurvy shortly after arriving at Grand Line, fortunately no one died. Nami came to join their grouping and helped Sabo lift the ill man to a semi-sitting position to get him to swallow the juices in the optimal way. Soon Yosaku was on his feet again, surprising everyone with the knowledge about scurvy, as scurvy normally wasn't healed that fast.

Their conversation turned back to a chef and how badly necessary he or she really is. Johnny recommended Baratie that Luffy wanted to visit anyway. Fortunately Johnny actually knew the coordinates.

"Baratie is northeast from here, approximately two or three days away. However you have to be pretty carful since it is pretty close to Grand Line and therefore often visited by pirates. I've heard a rumor that 'Hawk-Eyes' frequents that place as well." Johnny explained and Zoro gripped his katanas in anticipation.

"Mihawk? Really? I didn't know he leaves Grand Line too often." Luffy exclaimed in surprise.

"Are you certain it was Hawk-Eyes?" Sabo was skeptical.

"You know him?" Zoro asked, highly surprised.

The two brothers nodded.

"We're acquainted; however he's more of a friend of a friend rather than our own." Sabo explained.

"He's Shanks' drinking buddy! Also Mihawk has the _biggest_ crush on him. Poor guy, Shanks has absolutely no idea." Luffy giggled.

"Hawk-Eyes is _gay_?" Zoro exclaimed, _very_ surprised.

"I don't think he cares what he fucks, as long as he gets to be on top." Sabo said nonchalantly while eyeing Zoro critically. "You're not thinking of challenging him, are you?"

"And what if I am?" Zoro scoffed.

Both Luffy and Sabo went very still, any sign of humor vanished.

"Zoro, as an order from your captain, _you are forbidden_ from issuing a challenge to Dracule 'Hawk-Eyes' Mihawk." Luffy ordered with a severe tone.

The santoryu practitioner started protesting angrily immediately. His shouts came to a sudden stop when his knees gave out and he fell to the floor, the only thing keeping him from completely passing out was the support he got by gripping his swords. His breathing was labored and he literally felt like shadowy darkness was squeezing the life out of him.

"Mihawk would barely even be bothered by what you are now feeling. Challenging him as you are now is like someone who has never picked up a sword challenging you! I'm not exaggerating, Zoro! You are far from ready to take him on."

Luffy stopped suffocating Zoro with haki, but the aftershock was still on the swordsman. Johnny, who had been standing close to Zoro, was passed out. Nami and Usopp were cowering behind Sabo whose body seemed to protect the pair from the brunt of Luffy's tangible ambition.

Luffy took Zoro's chin in his hand and made the swordsman look him in the eyes.

"I'm not trying to keep you from your dream, Zoro. I'm trying to make sure it will come to be. Until you at least master haki and become strong enough to take my own haki head on you are not ready to face him _yet_. But in time, with my help, you will be. Do you understand, Zoro?"

Zoro grit his teeth. "Yes, captain." He grounded out finally.

"Good."

"Okay then! We should revive our two stowaways." Nami shouted suddenly in an attempt to disperse the tense atmosphere.

It turned out only Johnny had passed out from Luffy's haki; Yosaku was still suffering from scurvy and had passed out naturally. They put the man into bed so he could recover in peace.

That evening over the dinner table Luffy brought up another subject he had been meaning to discuss.

"Oh yeah, Nami-chan. There's something I've wanted to ask you for some time."

Nami turned away from her food to look at her captain.

"Traditionally, since you're my first nakama, the title of first mate automatically belongs to you. However if it's alright I'd like Zoro be the one to have it."

The others stopped eating as well, now interested in the crucial moment of Straw Hats history.

"Really? Why?" Nami replied, mildly insulted. Was she not more qualified than the aloof swordsman?

"Nothing against you, it's just that I think we sympathize with one another a lot. The job of a first mate is to make decisions if the captain itself is unavailable -like gravely injured and resting- and I think Zoro would make decisions that are the most similar to my own. Besides, being the navigator you'll get to boss us around on a regular basis anyway!"

Nami mulled it over.

"Alright. I don't mind. As long as he doesn't get more treasure than me." She finally decided. "But you'll still have to honor our bet." She added while glancing at Zoro who only rolled his eyes.

* * *

><p>The wind had been good and Baratie had made its appearance over the horizon in two days. Luffy was excited and tried to 'cop a feel' at potential nakama, but instead found something else. He rushed to right side of the ship and gazed the sea with The Look.<p>

"Nami-chan!" He called.

"What is it, cap'n?" The navigator answered lazily.

"There's a marine ship incoming from starboard. Their goal seems to be the restaurant." Luffy informed.

"Really? What do you want to do?" Nami required as she took a peek with her spyglass.

"There's no one worthy to fight, and I want to get to Baratie without a hassle if possible. Change course to take a small detour, so we can anchor on the other side of the restaurant. If they notice us and attack anyway we'll deal with it."

Nami nodded and gave the instruction to turn slightly to port. They made it to the restaurant slightly later than the marine ship. They used Johnny and Yosaku's dinghy to get to the other vessel. As they were about to tie up the boat they heard a crash inside. As they actually went inside they were greeted by an unusual sight. A chic blond man was holding another well-dressed man by the neck.

"Oh? A fight?" Zoro said with a smirk.

"I'm liking this place already." Sabo said with a polite smile.

Luffy barely even seemed to notice the tension. He just looked around for a free table. A chef walked into the room and spotted the blonde and his… er… customer…? Opponent…? Victim…?

"Sanji! What the hell do you think you are doing to the customer? Isn't that a marine lieutenant?" He raged at the blonde.

"What do you want, shitty-cook?" The blonde, Sanji, replied.

"Hello! Is there a free table somewhere?" Luffy cut in buoyantly, not the least bit concerned or bothered by the intense confrontation. Honestly, he didn't even seem to notice it.

"Welcome, squid-face! Let me get you to a table right away. Haw many bastards do you have?" The man said with a creepy-friendly face.

"Five people." Luffy replied like the wording had been the most natural in the world.

The chef, Patty, showed them to a table.

"Hey, can I speak with the owner. I wanna ask him a favor." Luffy said when he was seated. Patty blinked in slight surprise before shrugging.

Patty went back to yelling at Sanji who had to be bodily restrained from killing the marine lieutenant who had just threatened to shut the place down.

It was at that moment that the owner of Baratie, head chef Zeff walked into the scene.

"Sanji! Were you fighting in my restaurant again, you ingrate?" He roared, ill-temperedly.

He then proceeded to slug the blond chef in the face with his wooden leg. He didn't stop there; he also slugged the 'esteemed customer' and told him to 'get the fuck out'. The chefs' quarrel was only interrupted by the main entrance door slamming open. A bloody, low-ranked marine was at the entrance.

"Lieutenant Fullbody! This is an emergency!" He screamed urgently. "Pirate Krieg's crewman has escaped. I'm very sorry, but seven of us have been injured." He reported.

The lieutenant looked flustered. "How is that possible? He was starving when we caught him three days ago and we haven't fed him since." He shouted, making the already frightened people even more scared. They whispered 'Don Krieg' in absolute terror.

The marine was about to apologize again, but before he could finish he was shot from behind.

People screamed and stood up from their seats as a battered-looking pirate made his way inside the vessel slowly. He passed the lieutenant lazily without even glancing at him and sat down on a vacant table.

"I don't care what it is, but get me something to eat. This _is _a restaurant, right?" He said with a hoarse voice. He had either been screaming a lot recently, or he was really parched.

"Welcome, squid-face." Patty said with the same creepy-friendly face he had greeted Luffy with. "But we'll be expecting you to pay. Do you have enough money?" He inquired.

The newcomer pointed a pistol at Patty's face.

"Do you take lead? Cuz I ain't got no money."

As soon as he said that Patty rammed his fists at him with a horizontal strike, breaking the chair the pirate occupied along with it. Of course the owner complained over a broken chair rather than the guest who got slugged by an employee.

Luffy noticed that the smartly dressed cook left for the kitchen as Patty proceeded to beat up the starving pirate. When he was done he gave the gayest curtsey to applauding customers before throwing the pirate outside none too gently.

Out of curiosity Luffy went along, but not before telling Sabo to order food for him too.

* * *

><p>Luffy watched as the chef, Sanji, put a plate of seafood rice in front of the battered male and told him to eat up. Gin's eyes took a delighted glow before he started devouring the rice. He thanked Sanji and praised his cooking with tears in his eyes.<p>

Luffy grinned widely. "Found you!" He said to himself.

The pirate and Sanji heard him though, and both looked up at the young pirate captain who had been spying on them over the railing.

"Hey, cook. Care to join my pirate crew?" He asked cheerfully and jumped over the railing and sat down next to Sanji.

"You're a pirate?" Sanji asked, mildly surprised. Luffy nodded. "Well, whatever. Though, I wouldn't recommend starting any fights here. The owner of this place used to be a pretty infamous pirate himself." The blond cook warned.

"I know. Red-Leg Zeff. That's why pops recommended this place to recruit a cook for my own crew." Luffy snickered happily. "So, how about it? Will you join?"

"Sorry, I have a reason to stay here." Sanji said not unkindly.

"Nope! I refuse your refusal!" Luffy replied immediately making Sanji sweatdrop.

"Huh?" He said in confusion.

"I want you and that's how it's going to be!" The young pirate claimed firmly.

"Hey, hey now!" Sanji protested, though he got the feeling anything he would say would be futile.

"Uh, excuse me for interrupting…" Gin said hesitantly. "My name is Gin; I'm a member of the Krieg Pirates. You said you're a pirate too, right? What's your goal?" He asked without showing much emotion.

"One Piece! I'm heading to Grand Line once I get this stubborn chef to join my crew. ("Oi!" Sanji protested) And maybe a doctor, I'm not really sure."

It was subtle but Luffy immediately noticed the 'look' in Gin's eyes. The look that crawled its way into every pirate's soul once they had been totally annihilated. He had seen it enough to recognize the signs. It was likely Gin's crew went to Grand Line and wasn't able to cut it.

"As you're still looking for a chef, it must mean your crew is still quite small. Unless your cook quit recently." He stated cautiously.

"Yep, including me and him there's five people." Luffy exclaimed while poking at Sanji.

"The hell are you including me?" Sanji protested, which both Luffy and Gin ignored.

"You look like a decent kid, so I'll give you a piece of advice." Gin proceeded to warn Luffy not to go to Grand Line, _ever_. The haunted look in his eyes looked more prominent than ever.

"So, you know a lot about Grand Line then, huh?" Luffy asked slyly.

A look of pure terror was visible from Gin's gaze.

"N-No, absolutely nothing. That's why it's so terrifying." He stuttered forcefully.

"Liar~!" Luffy singsonged. "I know that look you have. Every pirate who got chewed out by Grand Line has it. So, how long did you last? What finally got to you? Was it the weather or another crew? If it was the weather then you really suck and have no chance, but if it was another crew there's a chance you just had shitty luck. Some people are freaky-powerful like that." Luffy babbled, not paying any mind that Gin started shaking.

"It was neither the weather nor another crew… it was… I'm still not sure if I didn't just dream it… it was just one man." He rasped.

"One man?" Luffy echoed and wracked his brains. There weren't _too_ many people who were powerful enough to completely fuck up an entire crew, least of all lone traveling ones.

"He came out of nowhere and started slicing up our ships like they were made of paper. I can never forget those eyes…"

"_Aaah_! You ran into Mihawk! Well don't worry. You just had a _really_ shitty break. Not everyone in Grand Line's as strong as he is. Trust me he's one of the true elites. There's only about maybe two dozen others in the world that could rival his strength."

Gin closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Do you have any medical knowledge, Gin?" Luffy asked out of the blue.

"Uh? Not much, just the elementary stuff." Gin replied, a bit baffled by the random change of subject.

Luffy pouted before cheering up a moment later. "Really? That's a shame. Well, but do you wanna join my crew anyway?" He asked with an upbeat tone.

"Huh? Uh. Sorry, but I will not leave my old captain." Gin replied while still gripped by mild shock.

"Is that so? That's a shame. I really would've liked to have you with my crew. Your fighting level's not overly shabby, and your potential is very widely untapped." Luffy declared more weird things that baffled his companions.

"Uh? How do you think that?" Gin asked skeptically.

"Oh, I can tell." Luffy replied simply.

At that moment Zeff made an appearance. And Sanji shooed Gin to a boat. Gin felt guilty that Sanji would get into trouble for letting him eat for free, but Sanji only shrugged it off and threw the plate and glass overboard, claiming that they no longer had any evidence now.

Zeff watched quietly as Gin thanked Sanji from the bottom of his heart and bowed deeply in gratitude. He waited as Gin had had been sent off before shouting at Sanji.

"Sanji! Get back to work!"

"Yo! My name's Luffy and I'm a pirate. Do you mind if I take Sanji as my crew's cook?" Luffy shouted back towards the retired pirate.

"Would you shut up already?" Sanji yelled, really starting to lose his temper.

Zeff only snorted. "By all means, kid. I've been thinking I need to fake my own death to get that eggplant to finally fly the coop." He groused gruffly.

"Like you could run this place without me! Besides I'm part owner!" Sanji barked back.

"We don't need you here, you little brat." Zeff replied.

"What's that supposed to mean, old man?"

Zeff proceeded to say pretty hurtful things, but Sanji rebuffed his insults roughly and still insisted on never leaving.

"You certainly have your boss's blessing. Why don't you come with us?" Luffy asked once their insults stopped and silent glaring began.

"I have my own reasons." Sanji said aloofly while igniting a cigarette.

"Pleeeeeaaaase?"

Sanji was assaulted by Puppy Eyes of Doom.

His troubles were met by a kick on the head.

"Stop that! Only a lady is allowed to look that adorable!" The disturbed chef shouted.

"Aww, you're no fun!" Luffy pouted and grinned at the same time.

Sanji was surprised by the other male's reaction. He had not kicked Luffy any lighter he kicks annoying males. While that kick was far from his maximum power it was enough to send an average man into enough pain, however _this_ man looked like he might've as well have been poked with a feather. Sanji was very much aware that appearances could be highly misleading, but exactly how sturdy could this stick-like teen be?

"Out of curiosity kid…" Zeff cut into their semi-friendly interaction "Do you have a dream you wish to pursue?"

Luffy was immediately distracted.

"One Piece!" He declared the second time in under an hour. "I'm going to be the King of Pirates!"

"Is that so?" Zeff mumbled with a snort of amusement. "You certainly have the ambition for it. There are not a whole lot of lone pirates who would be willing to voluntarily leave your old pirate crew."

It was true. So far there was an astronomically small number of pirates who left Whitebeard's crew without a coffin.

"Though, that your brother chose to accompany you as well is the most shocking." Zeff added.

"Actually, Sabo's still part of pops' crew. He's just chaperoning me until we get to New World." Luffy replied simply.

"That makes sense. But _you're_ still calling him pops as well."

"So?"

Zeff wasn't quite sure how to reply to that. It was true Whitebeard was the pirate closest to becoming the next Pirate King, however he never had any real ambition towards that goal, and he was also getting to finally feel his age.

Zeff had only met Whitebeard once. It was the meeting with that monstrously strong man that convinced Zeff to leave Grand Line behind. He had realized that, while he had been strong, he wasn't as strong as a truly magnificent New World pirate captain had to be. Considering he was the strongest fighter in his crew he came to realize his crew's overall strength would only get all of them killed.

Whitebeard was in a league of his own- a monster among monsters, as the saying goes. It was only because Whitebeard took to such liking towards Zeff's cooking that the pirate cook's crew wasn't obliterated.

While Zeff's experience with Whitebeard had been relatively brief, he had gotten a pretty good idea what kind of a man the claimed greatest pirate alive was. Whitebeard wasn't a greedy man in the traditional sense. He enjoyed finer points of life like any other man, but he wasn't very much interested in accumulating wealth for himself like most captains. Instead of monetary valuables Whitebeard treasured his 'family' above all else. Every single member of his crew referred to Whitebeard as 'pops' and actually viewed him as a protective father-figure. In return Whitebeard truly considered every member as one of his 'children'.

As mentioned before Whitebeard wasn't interested in becoming the Pirate King or One Piece very much. Zeff remembered now quite clearly that the ones who were determined to crown Whitebeard were his nakama, but no the captain himself.

According to this logic it wasn't all too surprising that Luffy still referred to Whitebeard as 'pops', and it was very likely that Straw Hat was still considered family as well. Now the real questions were: was Whitebeard himself rooting for Luffy, and did the boy have what it takes?

Zeff stroked his stiff chain-like braided mustache in thought. Well he would mull over it at a later date. Right now he wondered how long it would take for the first person (himself excluded) to realize there were two Whitebeard Pirates, former and current, in Baratie. _That_ was something he definitely did not want to miss.

* * *

><p>The day passed for Luffy alternating between eating and pestering Sanji with attempts to convince him into joining. To make matters worse Luffy seemed to almost <em>know<em> where he was no matter where he hid, and if _that_ wasn't bad enough then how about Zeff giving Luffy permission to enter any part of the ship he desired, so Sanji couldn't even escape to staff-only rooms.

When evening came Luffy finally seemed to relent for the time being, but that was only because he seemed adamant about his crew relocating to their flagship. Sanji hoped against hope that he would just leave, but as karma would have it he would probably return the next morning to begin his quest of pestering again.

Luffy himself had an impressive reason of herding his crew back to Merry. It was time to start training!

"Now then. Before we start our attempts of awakening your haki there's one more thing I need to say." The captain declared.

Zoro, Nami and Usopp were face to face with the two brothers standing next to each other. Sabo had taken his hat off and laid out some medical supplies just in case, though that certainly didn't make Nami or Usopp feel any more comfortable. Zoro on the other hand started to look more and more interested, but then again he was used to rigorous training sessions unlike the other two. He was wearing a small grin of anticipation as he listened to Luffy's words. Nami was leaning against the railings while _trying_ to look aloof, but her nervousness was still somewhat visible. Usopp tried to do the same as Nami and succeeded even less.

"A person usually has one type of haki they're better at. Once they discover what it is they tend to concentrate more to that area, but if you train hard it is possible to achieve mastery of both."

Luffy turned to Zoro…

"I don't care if your preferred is kenbunshoku. Mastering busoshoku is a must for any truly good swordsman. If your preferred is busoshoku anyway it's up to you if you want to master kenbunshoku as well."

He turned to Nami…

"On the other hand you definitely need to master kenbunshoku. As our ship's navigator all of us depend on you to keep us alive, so needing to be aware of your surroundings is super-important for you. Whether you want to learn busoshoku is up to you."

And to Usopp…

"You have no excuses! I don't care what you say mastering both is an absolute must. As our sniper you need to be aware where the enemy is from afar, even if you can't see them, but that all is not worth squat if you can't take them down. I'll be drilling you much harder than anyone else."

The poor sharpshooter broke into cold sweat under the intense gaze he got from his captain.

"Now then… let's start."

Luffy took Zoro away to explain what he was supposed to be feeling with a generous amount of 'examples'. What exactly the 'examples' were would be anyone's guess, but Zoro went to bed that night sorer than he'd been in a long time.

Sabo took Nami and showed her meditation techniques. Usopp joined them, in hopes then the more level-headed of the pair of brothers was milder in his training than Luffy. The beginning was all fine. The two sat on the ground, eyes closed, and listened to Sabo's soothing voice as he instructed them to breathe and be as aware of their surroundings as they possibly could. It was all very relaxing… until Sabo knocked both of them over with his staff none too gently. As the two laid on the ground with bruises rapidly forming Sabo was laughing and saying they needed to be aware of _everything_, especially enemies who bore malicious intents.

Maybe he should've gone with Luffy instead?

No, he did the right decision, considering how exhausted and battered the santoryu practitioner looked before he hit the sack.

The pupils didn't feel like they managed to accomplish anything that day. The brothers however assured them that actually awakening the powers was only the first, and most difficult, step.

* * *

><p>Luffy let his nakama have breakfast at Baratie before herding them back to Merry to continue training with Sabo. Luffy stayed aboard the restaurant to try and convince Sanji to join his crew. So far he was as successful as he'd been before.<p>

Lunch rolled around and Straw Hat Pirates came to eat and rest. Luffy asked Sabo to try talking to Sanji himself while he took up training. So Sabo went to see the blonde while he was having a smoke-break.

"Hello. I don't believe we've been acquainted yet. My name is Sabo. I believe you know my brother, Luffy?" Sabo introduced as he took a seat next to the chef.

"A. I'm Sanji. He asked you to try to convince me to join, didn't he?" Sanji replied.

Sabo let out a chuckle. "Indeed he did ask me. Though I'm not sure how successful I can be. It may not seem so at first glance but that little squirt is usually very successful at making people do what he wants. I'd go as far as to say it's a natural gift of his, but mainly it's because he's so damn stubborn. Do you mind if I bother you for a cigarette?"

Sanji shrugged and offered the brunette one. Sabo lit the stick and took a drag.

"So what exactly are you doing here if you know your attempts are futile?" Sanji asked after a moment of silence.

"Futile? My dear man, who ever said futile? My brother would stay here for a full year to get what he wants if it would come to it, trust me on that. What I'm doing is trying to find a weak point I can exploit on you… And bother you for a cigarette or two." Sabo replied lightly.

Sanji rolled his eyes.

"Your brother may be stubborn, but he's not as stubborn as me. As long as that shitty old man lives I'm not setting foot off this restaurant."

"Don't set yourself up to eat you words, mate."

Without noticing Sabo and Sanji fell into a conversation. They discussed subjects such as women, All Blue, Grand Line landmarks – most specifically Fishman Island, and mermaids. Their chat came to a halt when Zeff bonked Sanji on the head and hauled him back to the kitchen while cursing slackers. Sabo returned to Merry.

The next three days passed the same way before anything changed from their normal routine.

* * *

><p>It was a misty morning and the Straw Hats were having breakfast with generous discount. They got the discount mostly because of Nami's feminine wiles- and Sanji was an überpervert. Sanji wanted the men to pay and only have Nami get freebies, but since it turned out they had a joint ownership of money he conceded to give them a half-off. The only reason they didn't eat for free was because Zeff would've killed the young man otherwise. Zeff didn't mind the discounts mainly because the unbelievable appetite Luffy possessed.<p>

The crew wasn't disturbed in the least when people around them started panicking and crowding around windows. They didn't bat an eye when the fog started to lift making a huge galleon visible through the windows. They didn't stop eating even when the doors opened and a huge man was practically carried in by Gin. They did turn to look at them, though they didn't stop their feeding, as the huge person began to talk.

"E-excuse me. Can you give me water… and some food?" The man, Don Krieg, said sounding mild. "Money's not a problem."

Then the remaining of his strength left and he collapsed. Gin had been unable to keep him from falling to the ground, but he did proceed to beg the chefs for anything to eat.

Patty started laughing at Don Krieg's pathetic form. He jeered that they would not give them even a grain and declared that they will call marines instead. Other chefs agreed, claiming Krieg to be too unpredictable to trust, and he would probably turn against them once he was given what he wants. Other customers agreed, even going as far as claiming that he deserved all the pain he was in for all the evil he had done. Krieg, too exhausted to get mad, promised to not do anything and to leave once he had been fed. He then proceeded to bow down his head and beg. The humbled sight of his boss made Gin tear up.

Patty was kicked away by Sanji who placed a bowl of rice and a bottle before the man who barely managed a 'thank you' before starting to devour the food.

"He's a really nice guy, isn't he?" Luffy said and Sabo nodded.

"I still think he's pretty rude." Usopp disagreed. Well, Sanji did tend to be rude to men and overly doting to women.

"What are you talking about? He'd be perfect for our crew." Nami replied, not because she disagreed with the sharpshooter but because she saw a personal slave in the chef.

Next thing she knew her captain was not sitting next to her anymore, though his plate was suspiciously absent. She blinked in mild (she'd come to expect the unexpected around Luffy already) surprise and looked around the room for him. She located him between Sanji and Done Krieg.

Luffy looked a bit bizarre. His left leg was lifted against Krieg's inner elbow in a position of blocking his arm, but _he was still eating_. In Luffy's left hand was his plate of pasta that he was eating with the fork in his right had.

Every single person, with the exception of Luffy's nakama, blinked in an attempt to make sure their eyes were not playing tricks on them.

"Yo!" Luffy greeted Gin casually.

"Do you have a death wish, brat?" Krieg asked dangerously low.

"No I don't, but you're not the first person to ask me that. Why do people keep asking me that?" Luffy replied with a thoughtful expression.

Everybody sweatdropped. Yeah… totally.

Don Krieg aimed another punch at the straw hat wearing youth, but he was quickly evaded.

"Sorry 'bout that. I don't normally interfere with other people's affairs and fights, but I kind of want that guy in my crew, so I can't really let you harm him." Luffy said with an apologetic look, which was ruined when he bit another forkful, while jerking his head at Sanji.

"Man, this guy looks like a bully! You sure you don't want to ditch him and be part of my crew?" Luffy asked Gin.

He had to dodge another punch from Krieg, who apparently didn't like what Luffy said. Don Krieg would've probably attacked him again but he was interrupted by Patty's literally crabby-looking handheld cannon.

"Pirates are our customers all the time, so we have to be prepared for anything. Hope you enjoyed your dessert in the form of my _Syrup Meatball_."

Patty's smug look turned to one of horror when Krieg actually _answered._

"Serving such an awful dessert, what an awful restaurant this is."

Smoke from the blast cleared up and revealed a completely fine Don Krieg. He was visibly wearing a strong armor made from some bizarre alloy that looked like gold, but clearly couldn't be since gold's too soft a metal to offer any real protection.

Don Krieg's armor 'opened' in various places and revealed various weapons stashed away. He opened fire while screaming something like "Despicable!". The guests from earlier completely freaked out and made a mad dash to get out of the restaurant, while hoping to be lucky enough not to get hit by a stray bullet. After ceasefire Krieg looked around with a critical eye.

"This is a fine ship. My old one's ruined, so I'll take it!" He declared.

Oh yeah, the chefs _totally_ agreed right away. Not.

Don Krieg was met by loud protests.

"Shut up! I wasn't requesting, I was giving an order?" Don Krieg pointed a thumb over his shoulder towards his battered ship. "Aboard that ship are about one hundred men still alive. Some of them have already succumbed to thirst and hunger. You are going to prepare enough food for my 100 starving men." He said arrogantly.

"What are you doing? You promised not to do anything of this sort, Don Krieg, so that I would take you here. This place saved our life." Gin protested.

Krieg grabbed Gin by the shoulder and lifted him up. By the look on Gin's face it did _not_ feel very pleasant.

"Yeah, I feel energized. So now I have no need to act so pitiful." He dropped Gin to the floor.

A bit further away at Luffy's table.

"Ne Sabo, don't you think Gin's like a dog?" Luffy asked his brother.

"He does look like a dog." Sabo nodded.

"A dog?" Nami echoed, curious.

"Yes. An abused dog with a mean master, one's that has never known what's it like to live without that firm hand yanking his collar painfully." Sabo said. "I don't think that Gin guy's a bad person, just someone who's had a rough break."

"But nevertheless it's a dog's nature to be loyal to its master." Nami finished with a sympathetic nod.

"An egotistical master." Zoro added quite accurately as Krieg kept on yapping about how 'strongest' he is, and how when he gives as order it _must_ be carried out simply because.

"Hey, captain, where have we heard this kind of speech before?" Zoro asked with a smirk.

"Hmm? Where?" Luffy asked excitedly like he was about to hear the best joke.

Zoro puffed himself up pompously. "I am the _greatest_ Marine captain ever_!_" He said, making his voice sound much rougher, and making an arm motion like pounding a hammer. Luffy burst out in giggles. "In fact, I am _so_ great I got my ass handed to me by a rookie pirate captain." Zoro continued with the same voice, but with a sarcastic tone this time. Luffy giggled harder.

"You're so right. Some people have such big heads. How odd it is that I never like any one of them." He said after his laughing had subsided.

"Not at all." Sabo replied in a deadpan voice. "By the way, have any of you noticed Krieg's so self-absorbed in his tirade he hasn't even noticed Luffy's not-so-quiet laughing?"

And he was right. Krieg's shrieking was only cut off when a big bag was deposited in front of him.

"Here's enough food for 100 men. Get it to your ship." Zeff said without much emotion.

"What's that old man doing?" Luffy inquired in confusion.

"Feeding starving people. That's what chefs do." Sabo replied.

"But wouldn't that put his restaurant in jeopardy?" Nami asked.

"Well, no. Not as long as Luffy and I are in here. I'm pretty sure he's aware of that. I think." The young man shrugged, not completely sure of himself.

Suddenly there were amazed whispers all around them. People were all amazed that East Blue's most dreaded pirate couldn't make it in Grand Line, as it became apparent just a moment ago. Don Krieg didn't pay them any mind, as all of it was directed at the head chef and owner of Baratie.

"You're Red Leg Zeff." He stated in amazement before he got his expression back under control. "So you're still kickin', huh?"

"What of it?" Zeff replied gruffly.

Krieg proceeded to mock Zeff about having no choice but to make an honest living as a chef, as he could no longer be a pirate. Red Leg Zeff used to be quite infamous by having one hell of a kick- strong enough to shatter cliffs and leave imprints on metal. Seeing as one of Zeff's legendary legs was cut off, continuing as a pirate would've been too hazardous.

Krieg smugly pointed out all of those facts and more, but Zeff was unfazed.

"As long as I have my hands I can still cook just fine, so what's your point?" The elderly chef grumbled.

"As a pirate you braved the Grand Line and returned safely. You must've kept a logbook about your travels. Hand it over." Krieg demanded pompously.

Zeff flat out refused, wiping the smug grin right off Krieg's face.

"Then I shall have to take it by force!" He roared "I couldn't get through the grand line. I have enough men, enough power, enough ambition! The only thing I lacked the last time was information. That is the _only_ reason I failed!"

"Buuull~shiiit~!" Sabo and Luffy singsonged together.

"You are lacking in certain other departments as well. Two of the most important ones I'd say." Sabo said with a roll of his eyes.

"Oh? And what would you two brats know?" Krieg asked arrogantly.

Luffy and Sabo didn't answer. They just looked around to room nonchalantly and whistled 'innocently'. Nope, they definitely do not call Grand Line home or anything.

"And what exactly do you think I'm lacking?"

"Love from your nakama." Luffy.

"And your own willingness to die to protect them." Sabo.

Don Krieg started laughing uproariously. "You pitiful fools!"

The brothers only shook their head, pitying the captain. A house united is always stronger, but no matter what Krieg wouldn't understand that, so there's no need to even bother trying to explain.

Statistically, even the vilest of successful captains would instinctually look out for their own crew. Only at Four Blues existed famous pirate captains who only reined through fear. If that kind of captain should ever dare to venture to Grand Line he/she would be eaten alive (sometimes literally). What happened to Don Krieg was only the norm to his kind of pirate captains.

"Pathetic humor like that is the kind I like the most!" Krieg declared, his spirits quite high. He took the bag of food over his shoulder and turned to leave, only slowing down to shout over his shoulder: "Those who do not wish to die should clear off before I return. The only things I want are that logbook and this ship."

So Krieg left, leaving a heavily shaking, from grief and pain, Gin behind. The underling didn't even raise his head through all his shame while he apologized with a weak voice.

"I'm so sorry, Sanji-san. I never meant for this to happen, I didn't even think it."

"There's no need for an apology from the likes of you, idiot." Zeff groused, making Gin look up in surprise. "We're just chefs, after all."

That raised a loud protest from the other chefs, who were convinced Sanji wished to destroy the restaurant, or kill the owner so he could take his place. Their protest were only met by Zeff's loud berating and semi-mysterious monologue about what it feels like to have no food or water while trapped in the middle of the vast ocean.

"Just get out of the back door, if you want to get out." Zeff finished finally.

That was met by a bunch of determined fighting-cooks who refused to abandon the ship they called home.

"What on earth are you thinking?" Gin yelled out suddenly. "You've already seen how strong Captain Krieg is! Just get out of here and save yourself!" He begged desperately, though in a pirate-y fashion.

"He's not _that_ tough. Besides, his so-called army's just a bunch of half-starved sick people." Luffy replied matter-of-factly.

He walked up to Gin and squatted so he could be face-to-face with him.

"I don't know how you could be so damn loyal to such a small bully like him. I honestly think you deserve better than some weakling realist with illusions of grandeur." He stood up and made a move to walk out to door. "Though, if you want to join my crew the offer's still standing." He said over his shoulder.

Suddenly his whole posture went stiff for a few seconds. Then he started giggling insanely.

"You alright?" Gin asked, a bit concerned by the spontaneous bout of cackling. Well not really, as it was already clear from their last meeting that the teen had a few loose screws.

"You finally noticed." Sabo said with a smirk as he walked up to his brother.

"Zoro-san, please step outside. There's something I think you would like to see." He said with a mild smile.

The entire Straw Hats crew plus the chefs went outside right in front of the battered galleon.

"It's pretty battered, isn't it?" Luffy said with a wide carefree grin. "What do you suppose caused it?"

"It looks like it was… cut." Zoro said, wary and unsure. Sanji snorted and rolled his eyes.

"You're totally right there." Luffy said with an enthusiastic grin. "That's Mihawk's handiwork."

"Are you serious?" Zoro gasped.

"Yup. I had a little chat with Sanji and Gin before, and he confessed to have been attacked by a person who would only be him. Behold, Zoro, that's what you would be capable of if you master busoshoku. Pretty neat, huh?"

Zoro looked at the galleon and gulped. "This is unreal." He whispered.

"Oh, it get's better." Sabo whispered to the swordsman with a sly smirk.

"What do you mean?" Zoro asked the swallowtail coat wearing man.

"You'll see." Both the brothers said together. The slightly maniacal look in their eyes made Zoro a bit nervous.

Suddenly there was a loud noise coming from the galleon, produced by about one hundred men screaming their war cry.**

However the enemy pirates did not make it too far as their as their bigass ship was promptly cut cleanly in half.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks you for reading.<strong>

***That was not an author's note in the middle of the story, but just a random barb I may use again in this story.**

**** Is war cry/warcry one or two words?**

**Word count (story only): 8791**


	5. Recruiting Some More, part2

**Disclaimer: If I owned One Piece I'd probably be more oriental.**

**Summary: Sabo was saved by Dragon when the tenryuubito, Saint Jalmack, shot his boat. He, Ace, and Luffy went out to the sea together at age 17/14. What would happen to our beloved Straw Hats if they had a captain who had experienced Grand Line once already?**

**Warnings: slight OOCness, language, gay jokes, some violence.**

**Pairings: nothing permanent between main characters, start reviewing if you want something badly (but no LuNa).**

**I'm seriously considering Sanji/Nami though, and _maybe_ Gin/Robin**

**A/N: People please tell me if I blunder with Mihawk's name anywhere! Auto correct automatically corrects Mihawk into Mohawk whenever I misspell the name.**

**Posted: 08.02.12**

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><p><em>Previously<em>

"_I had a little chat with Sanji and Gin before, and he confessed to have been attacked by a person who could only be Mihawk. Behold, Zoro, that's what you would be capable of if you master busoshoku. Pretty neat, huh?"_

_Zoro looked at the galleon and gulped. "This is unreal." He whispered._

"_Oh, it get's better." Sabo whispered to the swordsman with a sly smirk._

"_What do you mean?" Zoro asked the swallowtail coat wearing man._

"_You'll see." Both the brothers said together. The slightly maniacal look in their eyes made Zoro a bit nervous._

_Suddenly there was a loud noise coming from the galleon, produced by about one hundred men screaming their war cry._

_However the enemy pirates did not make it too far as their bigass ship was promptly cut cleanly in half._

* * *

><p>"Oh shit!" Luffy screamed suddenly. "Sabo, go make sure Merry won't get sucked into this. I don't trust those bounty hunters to retain cool heads in this situation."<p>

Sabo nodded and ran to Merry, which was tied to the other side of the restaurant.

"What a lucky twist of fate." Sabo mumbled to himself. "If that sissy marine lieutenant hadn't come, Merry might've been docked where it's actually dangerous right now."

"Luffy what's going on?" Zoro asked his captain seriously.

"I think you already know." Luffy replied with a sly grin.

Zoro swallowed heavily and turned an intense gaze towards the wreckage again. "Where?" He whispered. Zoro started sweating nervously. Nami and Usopp shared a confused look. They had yet to realize what exactly happened. They both just theorized that one of their cannons somehow exploded and blew the ship apart. Neither even once considered that a single swordsman could cause this much damage with a single slash.

"Look! Over there!" A random Don Krieg pirate screamed as he noticed a coffin-shaped boat leisurely gliding through the waters. On that boat was a man about 40 years old*. He was wearing a black sleeveless coat and a purple blouse; both unbuttoned, thus showing off his defined abdominal muscles and pectorals. On his head was a fancy hat with a big decorative feather. All that made the man look flamboyantly impressive, but what made the man even more memorable was the ornate oversized sword on his back.

"Wait until he glares at them. They're going to have nightmares for months." Luffy giggled as he watched Krieg's pirates panic, getting some bizarre sadistic amusement from their distress.

"You mean they're not already?" Nami replied dispassionately.

"Oh, yeah. I guess they are." Luffy chuckled sheepishly.

A brave (or foolish) man gathered up his wits and asked Mihawk why he had attacked them again. Mihawk only glanced at him, uninterested.

"I was bored." He replied aloofly.

Apparently the pirate took offence.

"Don't bullshit us!" He screamed and pulled a gun on Mihawk. He pulled the trigger. Nothing seemed to happen, but the blade seemed to magically appear in Mihawk's hand. Truth was he just drew it faster than an average person could see, and used the blade to deviate the twin bullets' path. It resulted in a bunch of very awed but confused pirates.

"What wonderfully subtle and graceful skills…" Zoro whispered, more than impressed. "Every swordsman in the world is right to admire him."

Predictably, for those who knew him, Hawk-Eyes' dramatic scene was ruined by Luffy.

"Miiihaaawk! How's Shanks? I haven't seen him in such a looong time!" He practically sang at the swordsman, drawing the attention of every single person to himself.

Mihawk raised an eyebrow.

"There's a face I didn't expect to see in East Blue… and another I expect to see even less." Mihawk mused aloud, amused, as Sabo reappeared next to his brother.

"Good morning, Mihawk-san. I hope you are well?" Sabo greeted with a polite smile.

"Why yes, thank you, Sabo-kun. Have you and your brothers stayed out of trouble lately?" Mihawk replied with a similar polite smile.

"No, not a snowflake's chance in hell, I'm afraid." Sabo shook his head with a chuckle.

Everyone, except Straw Hats and Zeff (who was only shaking his head in amusement), was stunned into silence. Hawk Eyes, the celebrated most powerful swordsman in the world, was having _small talk_ with unknown brats! What the hell was going on!

Suddenly a proverbial bulb went off above Luffy's head, which most of the time was _not_ a good thing.

"Mihawk, I wanna ask a favor from you." He declared.

Sabo almost facepalmed. He was pretty sure he knew what Luffy was going to ask.

"I can not guarantee my agreement, especially since it's you." Mihawk replied casually. Luffy only grinned, probably not even considering the possibility that he might be refused.

"This is Zoro, my first mate, and a santoryu user." Luffy pointed at Zoro.

Mihawk glanced at the green-haired teen. He was young, of average height, and well muscled, but the only thing that even remotely interested Mihawk was the word 'santoryu'. That was an exceptionally rare style. He heard awed whispers of 'Pirate Hunter Zoro' from Krieg's pirates. Apparently he was rumored to be the strongest swordsman in East Blue; however that didn't mean much to Mihawk, since it really was the weakest and most peaceful of all oceans.

"He aspires to be the greatest swordsman in the world; although he is _very_ far from reaching that goal, believe me." Luffy laughed, oblivious to the disgruntled and annoyed look he received from Zoro. Sabo placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him an embarrassed, apologetic look in an attempt to soothe his irritation. Sadly, Luffy never learned the meaning of tact. Sabo believed it to be a family flaw.

"Would you grant him a spar to show him how far away he still has to go?" Luffy finally voiced his request.

Zoro's annoyance was instantly replaced with surprise. It has been awhile since he had actually _sparred_ with anyone, he wasn't sure he even remembered how to not fight seriously. At least not against a worthy opponent.

"What's your name, boy?" Mihawk asked Zoro. Zoro chose to ignore the 'boy' remark for now.

"Roronoa Zoro."

"What do you think of your captain's idea, Roronoa Zoro?"

Zoro took a moment before answering.

"Whether it is a spar or a showdown, it would be an honor to cross blades with you."

Mihawk pondered for a moment before standing up to his feet.

"I came here to kill time anyway. I don't see why not cross blades with someone who actually _knows_ how to hold a sword." As Mihawk said that he sent a dismayed glance at a few of Krieg's pirates who were hanging on to cheap cutlasses like they were wooden sticks.

In an instant Zoro was standing on the ruined ship's floating wreckage near Mihawk's coffin-shaped boat. He took off his bandana from his arm and tied it over his head. Usually he only would do it in a real duel, but even if it was just a spar Hawk-Eyes would warrant the seriousness. He unsheathed his swords and waited for Mihawk to get ready too. Mihawk moved even faster than Zoro had. One moment he was still leisurely sitting on his boat, the next he was standing beside Zoro.

He took his cross necklace and revealed it to be a small dagger.

"What's that supposed to be?" Zoro asked, a little ticked off.

"Seriously, Mihawk, what the hell?" Luffy screamed on the behalf of Zoro too.

"Show him the difference between us. Isn't that what you asked?" Hawk Eyes replied coolly.

"That _is_ how far apart they are, Luffy." Sabo tried to calm his brother awkwardly.

"Well, yeah, but you don't have to be such an ass about it." Luffy replied with a pout.

Zoro couldn't believe what he was hearing. The captain was pissed because Mihawk was rude, not because he was underestimated? Were these people out of their damn minds, or was he really that weak compared to the summit? Whatever the case, he was majorly pissed off. At what or who, even he didn't know any more.

Their fight began. Zoro attacked head on, however all three of his swords were blocked by the very tip of Mihawk's tiny dagger.

As they continued on the people around them looked on in awe. Except for Luffy and Sabo. Luffy was observing the battle with a carefree grin, but Sabo was feeling a sinister foreboding dread. Something about this 'spar' felt off to him.

Johnny and Yosaku, who had appeared about the same time as the fight began, were cheering Zoro on. They were screaming all the wrong things though (bet you wouldn't like being told not to hold back while you're dishing out all you've got either).

The grin on Luffy's face started fading when Mihawk stabbed Zoro in his chest. It wasn't too deep a cut, but it drew more blood than should be acceptable in a non-lethal spar. Finally Luffy began to feel the same unease his brother.

"Do you want this knife to go through your heart? Why aren't you stepping back?" Mihawk asked.

"Not entirely sure myself." Zoro relied as if he didn't have a knife digging into his flesh. "But if I take a single step back now, it would feel like I had broken my promise, and I would never be able to stand before you again."

"Yes, that's called 'losing'."

Mihawk pulled his dagger away.

"Tell me, why do you aspire to be the best?"

"For my own ambition… and a promise I made to a fallen friend."

Luffy _really_ did not like where this was going. This was far too serious for his liking.

"When did it change?" He asked himself out loud.

"What?" Nami asked what everybody was thinking. What did Luffy mean by 'change'?

"This has been doomed from the start." Sabo replied Luffy, completely ignoring everybody else.

Suddenly Luffy's mouth went dry. Mihawk had drawn his true sword, _Kokutou Yoru_.

Zoro and Mihawk dished out final attacks on one another.

And after a suspense filled moment…

Zoro's two lesser-quality swords broke and his chest squirted blood. Mihawk was completely unharmed.

Zoro sheathed Wado Ichimonji, stood up, turned around, and spread his arms**.

"What are you doing?" Mihawk asked, showing mild signs of surprise.

"A scar on the back is a shame of a swordsman."

Mihawk smirked.

"Well said."

Mihawk _would_ have landed a near-fatal blow to Zoro's chest if it weren't for the fact that the blade of his sword was suddenly stuck between Luffy's palms. He only had a moment to register the lad's pissed off look before a powerful kick was aimed in his way. The kick had enough force to destroy another good portion of Krieg's already mixer-ed ship.

Mihawk landed some distance away, looking a little windswept but otherwise not affected. _Kokutou Yoru_ was still in his hand.

"What the bloody ghost-fucking hell do you think you're trying to pull here?" Luffy screamed, nearly frothing with fury. "You agreed to a freakin' _spar_! When the hell did you turn it into an actual duel?"

Zoro, who had been angry just a moment ago for the interruption, smartly decided to quell his anger and keep his mouth shut.

Mihawk actually looked sheepish, or as sheepish as he could.

"My apologies, Monkey. It's easy to forget when fighting against someone who has such a strong will. To prefer death over defeat is not something everyone could be capable of."

Mihawk took a few steps closer. When he stopped he raised his sword and pointed the tip towards Zoro.

"Don't rush your death, kid. Go to the Real World, become stronger. No matter how long it would take I will await you in my strongest form! Surpass this sword! Surpass me! Roronoa Zoro!" He declared loudly.

Sabo wasn't sure whether to grin or facepalm, but Luffy seemed to be very pleased with the acknowledgment Mihawk gave to Zoro. That was all nice and all, but did he really have to be such a drama queen about it?

Zoro unsheathed Wado Ichimonji and pointed the tip towards the other swordsman.

"If I don't become the greatest swordsman my captain would be in a real dilemma. So, as of right now, for as long as I shall live, I will not lose to anyone ever again! Until the day I can defeat you, I will never lose to anyone! Any problems with that, Pirate King?"

During the entire vow Zoro's eyes were trained on Mihawk, but the last part was directed at Luffy.

"None, whatsoever." Luffy replied with a shit-eating grin.

Zoro and Mihawk sheathed their weapons.

"You make a fine team. I hope to meet you again some day." With that Mihawk went to leave.

"Wait!" Came the shout of both Luffy and Krieg.

Mihawk stopped and glanced over his shoulder.

"Didn't you come for my head?"

"Aren't you going to have a drink with us?"

Krieg and Luffy asked at the same time. The reaction was mixed. Some of Krieg's pirates nearly pissed themselves in fear as their captain prevented the swordsman from leaving; others gaped at Straw Hat lad for asking Hawk-Eyes to do something as _humane_ as having a drink.

"A drink sounds nice. I think I've had enough fun for one day." Mihawk replied to Luffy, completely ignoring Krieg.

"BEFORE YOU GO, DIE!" Krieg screamed and opened fire against Mihawk.

Mihawk only rolled his eyes at the man's stupidity and swung his sword almost lazily to kick up some wood and water. The distraction was enough for Mihawk to slip away unnoticed. What most didn't realize was that Mihawk did not actually leave.

Luffy took advantage of the ruckus Krieg and Mihawk created as well, and helped Zoro back to Baratie where Sabo wasted no time to patch him up.

Usopp thought that he should get a big-ass hat too so he could hide some stuff there. After all, a bag is an obvious place to hide weapons and medicine, and would get confiscated immediately if they were ever apprehended. A hat would be less suspicious, and maybe in boots too…?

* * *

><p>"Those parasites." Sanji mumbled distastefully as Krieg shot one of his men for speaking what everyone else from his crew was thinking.<p>

"I think he's so pathetic it's funny." Luffy giggled.

Sanji almost jumped in startle. He hadn't noticed when the young Straw Hats Captain had snuck up to him. A glance sideways showed Zoro was still being bandaged by Sabo and Nami. He _tsk_ed in jealousy, momentarily daydreaming being cared by the ginger navigator himself. Luffy's cackling brought him back to reality.

"Is that so? What's funny about him?" Sanji asked Luffy, only mildly curious.

"He thinks the only reason Mihawk is so strong is because he has a Devil Fruit ability. Hehe, and Zeff's logbook includes the information about a strategy how to deal with people like that." Luffy stopped explaining for a moment in favor of laughing. "It's true that there's some very good ways to counter Devil Fruit users, but Mihawk _isn't_ a Devil Fruit user. He's just that strong in his own right. Poor sucker."

Sanji shrugged.

"Well, anyway it looks like they're about to attack. Hey, go to the control room and open the fin." Sanji told a random chef, who looked surprised by the order.

"Are you serious? We'll give them a place to fight that way." He protested.

"So what? If we let the interior of the restaurant get damaged the old man will never let us hear the end if it."

The other chef apparently agreed because he disappeared.

"Speaking of the old man… where is he anyway?" Sanji wondered.

There was a battle cry, the enemy made a mad dash towards the restaurant.

"This is a pain." Sabo said, his voice betraying boredom. "How should we go about this situation?"

While he was contemplating the best way to fight the pirates to alleviate his boredom Usopp had already started his counterattack. He had hidden behind Baratie's ruined door while sniping off as many people as quickly as he was capable.

Sabo whistled in appreciation.

"Y'know, he's pretty fast with that thing." He said with a grin.

"Nice. But he's still not fast enough yet." Luffy nodded with a grin.

Sadly he was right. The distance between him and enemies was too small, and Usopp would likely be killed before he could snipe off every Krieg Pirate. Fortunately for Usopp, he had a very strong captain. Luffy launched himself off into the air and rained a parade of fists at his opposers.

Everyone's mouths fell open in shock. Well, they didn't know Luffy had a Devil Fruit ability and seeing his fists stretch and multiply was enough to warrant a heart attack on a lesser man.

Luffy landed back at Baratie, smoothly, after he was done pummeling Krieg's henchmen.

"You brat, you have a Devil Fruit ability, don't you?" Don Krieg declared loudly and confidently.

"Yups, I'm a rubber-human." Luffy replied as he stretched his face to add emphasis.

Suddenly a platform floated up from the sea and stuck to the boat. So, that's the 'fin', huh?

"Whoa! That's so _awesome_!" Luffy exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

Sanji, ignoring the distracted pirate captain, stepped on the (surprisingly not slippery at all) platform and declared. "Why not fight to your hearts content now, you pirates? This is your opportunity."

Krieg liked the idea of fighting without damaging the ship very much.

Suddenly they were all distracted when the restaurant's fish 'figurehead' dislocated from the main ship. It turned out the figurehead was a miniature warship. Unfortunately, it wasn't very effective as Krieg only 'threw' it away once it was close enough. It did get a few good shots at his goons beforehand though.

Don Krieg, as a demonstration how smart he was, threw the warboat _right at_ Baratie. The very same ship he wanted to himself and unharmed. Cue sweatdrops.

Thankfully the day was saved by Sanji who kicked it away from its course so it landed into the 'fin' harmlessly. Apparently cooking wasn't the only skill Zeff taught Sanji.

Patty and Carne, who had steered the ship, weren't all that grateful though.

From then on there was an all-out brawl between chefs and pirates, with chefs losing, but only until Patty and Carne joined in, then it was the pirates who were getting their asses handed to them. The tides were turned again when Patty and Carne were taken out immediately by a weird, _weird_ guy. Although nobody could tell he was such a weirdo yet because he was hidden in the water. It was only until he climbed to the fin his true nature was revealed.

As Patty and Carne were lying on the floor, defeated, the weirdo started talking.

"What are you guys doing?" He spoke with a noticeable lisp.

"Who's that dude?" Luffy asked out loud.

Well, he certainly _looked_ like a weirdo. He was wearing a pinkish 'pearl' helmet; metal shields on front and back of his body that also had pinkish pearls in the middle; similar shields, just smaller, guarding both elbows and knees; and the same shields were also in his hands. But the real weirdness came out when he answered Luffy's question.

"I am Mister Pearl. Invincible Iron-Wall Pearl." He simpered with a laugh, "Commander of Krieg Pirates second unit. I've won my last 61 battles completely unharmed. I have never been injured in battle; I've never shed even a drop of blood. I'm so beautiful, I love myself."

…

"Can I kill him?" Luffy asked Sabo like a child would ask a parent for sweets.

"Ask again when my brain's come home." Sabo replied with a vacant look. "And I thought I've seen everything."

"What _would_ happen if you'd make him bleed during battle?" Luffy thought out loud.

"That's… a good question. Let's find out."

Sabo grabbed his staff and smacked Pearl in the face. He didn't hit very strong though, just strong enough to give him a nosebleed. Pearl completely flipped out and set himself on fire… literally.

Sabo masterfully evaded the flame, but the tip of his coat tail got a little singed. He _tsk_ed and took off his jacked, more annoyed at himself for _allowing_ his clothes to get scorched than the actual fact that it got scorched. It was a pretty rookie mistake.

"Whoa. He's practically spitting fire. The restaurant will be ruined at this rate." Luffy commented calmly as the fin caught fire completely.

"You got time to make such comments, how about you think of a way to kill this fire?" Sanji grumbled angrily as he kicked Pearl in attempt to take the freaky thing out.

"Hmm…" Luffy said thoughtfully while scratching his chin.

"Oh crap." Sabo mumbled.

When Luffy made that face he more often than not comes up with the most bizarre plans. They're usually quite effective, despite their odd nature, but sometimes they're actually counterproductive.

"How about this?" Luffy asked as he kicked his foot 30ft in the air and brought it down with massive force, shattering the fin to pieces. Well, it _did_ manage to douse the fire at least.

"What the fuck, Straw Hat! Are you trying to destroy this place?" Sanji screamed.

"No. Just the fire." Luffy replied simply.

"YOU DESTROYED A PART OF THE SHIP!" Sanji raged.

"Oh, I see." Luffy claimed with a mildly surprised look.

Sanji gave up.

Suddenly a roar resonated through the air and Pearl flew out, determined to pound Luffy into the ground. Luffy didn't react the least bit to the danger, but considering Pearl's face was kicked in by Sanji a moment later, he had no need to.

"That's enough!"

Their attention was grabbed by Gin, who had somehow taken Nami as hostage. Usopp was lying behind them, unconscious with a big lump on his head.

"For real?" Sabo sighed. "Are you honestly already desperate enough to try and take hostages?"

"Desperate!" Krieg guffawed from where he was standing. "It doesn't matter what you do. Honor? Sympathy? They're for the weak. All that matters is that you win. How you obtain victory doesn't matter as long as you won't lose in the end."

"That sounds… really boring." Luffy commented.

"How the hell can you be so fucking calm? Gin's got your beautiful navigator as hostage!" Sanji raged at the seemingly unconcerned captain.

"Gin should worry more about his own life." Luffy said nonchalantly.

And he was right. Not a moment later Gin grunted and made a mad leap to avoid the sword slash courtesy of Zoro. Said swordsman looked highly disgruntled.

"You should've speared him!" A random chef shouted at Zoro.

And Zoro could have if he had wanted to, since he had been standing behind Gin. However Zoro really didn't like attacking people from behind, no matter the situation. So he actually first got Gin's attention, then attacked from the side. If Gin didn't have such fast reflexes he would've gotten impaled. Using Nami as shield hadn't been an option from that angle.

"Gin, you useless piece of trash! You should've let him impale you, imbecile!" Krieg raged.

Gin hung his head in shame.

"Hey! Gin's your officer, isn't he? You're supposed to be the one protecting him, not demanding his life on a whim!" Luffy raged at Krieg. Gin looked like a kicked puppy to him.

"His life is insignificant compared to my ambition!" Krieg declared self-importantly.

"You devil-cursed, feces covered, dickmuffin! You're the captain, YOU'RE supposed to be the one protecting your nakama, not BLOODY ABUSE THEM!" Luffy raged, stomping his feet.

"Hah! That's the difference between us, boy. Feelings of caring are for the weak. And only the strong can get to the top." Krieg declared self importantly.

While Luffy and Krieg were screaming their different opinions, Sabo went next to Gin.

"Your loyalties are truly admirable, but completely wasted on a man such as Krieg." He said quietly.

"Krieg is my captain. He's truly strong." Gin sobbed.

Sabo shook his head. "You haven't seen strong. Your captain is, for the lack of better term, pathetic. You're like a dog, Gin. And Krieg is like an abusive master. A dog's nature is to be loyal, but it yearns for a nice master. Sadly because the dog doesn't know anything else but his master's cruelty, he can never be free. Look around a bit, and find a captain who will appreciate you the way you should be."

With that Sabo stepped away from Gin towards his younger brother. In doing so he exposed his bare back and tattoo to Gin, who fell over in shock. His gaping was noticed by Krieg and his crew.

"Gin-san, what's the matter with you?" A random Krieg pirate asked.

At first Gin couldn't find his words, instead he choked on his tongue and pointed a shaking finger at Sabo.

"I know that mark!" He shouted as he finally regained control over his voicebox. "That's the mark of the current most powerful pirate, the only other pirate who gave Pirate King Gold Roger any competition! Whitebeard!" He declared.

Complete silence reigned for a moment, before whispers broke up everywhere. The pirates tried to peer at Sabo to get a glimpse at the mark, who only smiled in amusement and turned around to proudly display the mark for everyone to see.

Krieg had to demonstrate his brilliance again.

"Haahaahaahaa! This is perfect! Killing a few of Whitebeard's underlings is sure to bet me more infamy." He guffawed.

"That's also a sure way to get yourself murdered." Sabo replied with a smile. "Pops is highly protective of all his kids. Whitebeard Pirates are likely the most sanctioned, as they're sure to be avenged should they be harmed."

"Are you trying to intimidate me into sparing you?" Krieg snorted.

The brothers burst out laughing.

"No, intimidating people out of a fight is not our style." Sabo said through chuckled. "But even if it were, we would have no need to with a weakling like you." Luffy finished.

A vein on Krieg's temple pulsed angrily. "Are you brats mocking me?" He demanded.

"Yes." The brothers replied without missing a beat, completely straight faced.

Krieg whipped out a weapon.

"Let's see you laugh, when you're poisoned." He snarled.

Whispers of 'MH5' was spread throughout the enemy pirates.

"Don Krieg, you can't be serious!" Gin shouted.

"I'm very serious! Though, I usually wouldn't waste it on a pair of brats such as yourselves, but rather on a small village, or a warship. You ought to feel honored. Enjoy!"

"Y'know, Lu, you _do_ usually laugh when you're poisoned." Sabo whispered to his brother.

"I thought it annoyed him." Zoro, who made a surprise appearance, piqued in.

"If he notices he's being poisoned he's annoyed, if not then most of the time it puts him in a good mood."

"Really?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow.

Just then Krieg launched off the weapon, and immediately Luffy and Sabo realized something wasn't quite right about the projectile. Luffy grabbed onto Zoro and immediately jumped back alongside Sabo. Good thing too, as a barrage of shurikens exploded out of the projectile a moment later.

"Didn't he say he was going to use poison?" Luffy wondered, confused.

"He was bluffing, Lu." Sabo explained patiently.

"Oh, so that's what he did!" Luffy exclaimed while hitting his fist to his palm.

"How's Usopp?" Luffy asked Nami who had been tending to the unconscious sharpshooter.

"He'll be fine." Nami replied.

Then their attention was caught by a loud bang. The noise was created by Gin shattering Pearl's Iron Wall with his tonfa. From then on there was an all out duel between Sanji and Gin. It was damn hard to watch, what with the brutal moves they pulled on one another. At one point Gin had Sanji pinned, but just as it seemed like he was the winner he got a burning cigarette spat into his face, dangerously close to his eyes, momentarily turning the tables. Then at one time Sanji pulled a completely unnatural looking move the looked like it should've shattered Gin's spine, if it hadn't been for the blocking tonfa, which then on out had a slight indention.

Finally Sanji managed to crack their stalemate by somehow disarming Gin and having him pinned in a way that would've given a _very_ wrong impression to an outsider. By Gin's blush he realized it too. Sanji was blissfully oblivious.

The surrounding Krieg Pirates were gaping with their mouths open, flabbergasted that their battle commander lost. Krieg didn't take it well either.

The arrogant pirate captain pulled out another weapon.

"I'll show you, you little brats, why Krieg Pirates are the most powerful in East Blue." He growled.

"You have the most people. Doesn't mean you're really strong." Luffy deadpanned.

"I'll show you the power that conquered East Blue!" Krieg screamed and waved his weapon around like a lunatic.

"That's MH5, but for real this time!" The pirates claimed and took out their gas masks.

Gin took out his as well.

"Throw that mask away." Krieg screamed at Gin. "I have no need for weaklings. You aren't one of mine anymore. Drop dead."

Gin looked like all life's meaning was suddenly stripped from him.

"What a despicable coward you are." Sabo tutted.

"Don't say that!" Gin protested, but rather weakly. "Don Krieg is the strongest man in the world. There's no way for you to beat him."

"Gin, remember what I told you just a moment ago." Sabo shook his head sadly at the recently abandoned Krieg Pirates Battle Commander.

Just then "**MH5!**" Krieg screamed and unleashed the true poison gas projectile.

However as it turned out the gas masks weren't even necessary, because just as soon as the gas exploded it was all sucked into Luffy. Said rubber boy looked like a bloated balloon by the time he had inhaled the last of the poison. He cupped his hands over mouth to prevent any poison from escaping while looking like he was having minor spasms.

Krieg let out a loud guffaw.

"What a fool! All that talk about true strength and caring for your nakama! Now look where that got you!" He laughed uproariously.

"Sabo, is everything alright?" Zoro asked the older male, who suddenly looked really nervous. "I mean, he'll be fine since he's immune to poison, right?"

"I'm not worried about Luffy right now. I'm more concerned about us." Sabo confessed. "Moderate amount of poison doesn't do anything to my kid brother, but if it's in abundance… Well, it _does_ have affects."

"What kind of affects?" Zoro asked, suddenly feeling a foreboding dread.

"There hasn't been very many occasions when Luffy ingested a lot of poison, but the times he did… I just _hope_ he only gets really sleepy. The last time he went into all out rage that lasted for four days straight. We had to shackle him up with a lot of kairoseki."

Just then Luffy final spasm imploded his body back to its normal size. Luffy let out a loud belch and a small cloud of mauve poison gas exited his mouth and withered into nothing. For a moment nothing happened. Then Luffy started shaking all over his body. The shivers got worse and worse until finally he let out a loud shout and started doing laps around Baratie in an enormous speed.

"Oh great, it has the same effect as coffee." Sabo groaned miserably and palmed his face.

"Luffy." He tried to get his brother's attention.

Luffy continued his laps.

"Luffy!"

No effect.

"LUFFY!"

Nada

"MONKEY D. LUFFY! PAY ME SOME GODDAMN **ATTENTION**!"

…

Nothing.

"Meat!"

Skiddle. Skiddle. Stop.

"Meat?"

Zoro snorted at the absurdity of the situation.

"Lu, I know you're really full of energy, but how about you take it out on him instead of the restaurant?" Sabo suggested while pointing towards Krieg.

Luffy blinked stupidly for a moment and then started quivering all over and a maniacal grin broke on his lips. With a sudden shout he took straight across water towards the older pirate. Krieg had no time to react before he got a chestful of rapidly pounding fists. And when I say rapidly I don't mean the usual multiplied-looking rain of punches, but so fast there was visibly nothing there but skin-colored mist.

A moment later his armor completely shattered, but the little unassuming-looking-but-really-monstrously-strong runt did not stop his punches. So now Krieg enjoyed a thorough intestine rearranging massage.

After Krieg was pulverized to the point he would definitely have to retire from piracy (but not yet into wooden shirt***) Luffy leaped around like a demented frog before stopping and trying to whack random pirates from where he was standing. Because the pirates were in water and Luffy on remaining ship rubble, the game turned into a gomu-gomu variation of whack-a-mole. After Luffy had gotten bored with that as well he returned to Baratie and proceeded to sprint laps around the restaurant.

Back with the cooks and Straw Hats, another surprise was imminent.

"Things like that always seem to happen around that youngling." A random voice said above them.

Everyone looked up and most people's jaws dropped.

Hawk-Eyes and Owner Zeff, sitting on the balcony, sipping wine, and enjoying the view.

"Owner! Since when…?" A random chef sputtered.

"It's not every day a restaurant is visited by a Shichibukai. Just common courtesy to at least offer a drink, isn't it?" Zeff snorted.

"Oh, what are you drinking?" Sabo, one of the few not at all surprised, climbed to the balcony to have a better look.

"A vintage from North Blue, Woehoo Kingdom. It has a very unique taste, quite exquisite." Mihawk replied and poured Sabo a glass.

_Thunk_. _Snore_.

Luffy had suddenly collapsed and started snoring loudly.

"Oh good, I was afraid he might start a fire with his running." Zeff commented.

* * *

><p>When Luffy woke up it took him a moment before he panicked loudly and scream for his hat. Suddenly it was deposited on his head. Luffy looked up to see his smiling brother.<p>

"Ah. Morning Sabo."

"Hello Lu. Did you have a nice sleep?"

"Ara? Where did everybody go?" Luffy asked, confused.

"They left after you pounded Don Krieg's to the ground."

"Captain! You're finally awake." Nami entered to room.

"Hey, Nami-chan. You look happy."

The ginger navigator grinned like a cat that got the canary.

"Krieg had quite a bit of loot in that ruined ship of his. Although getting it all was a bit difficult."

"Speak for yourself." Zoro grumbled as he entered the room as well. "You forced me and that pervy love-cook to dive multiple times until we had salvaged all that we could and more. You didn't lift a fucking finger."

"Stop complaining, it was for the greater good." Nami snipped.

"Greater good for whom?" The swordsman growled.

"Aaah~! For the dearest goddess, I would dive to the bottom of the deepest ocean if only she commanded. Over and over again, and bring about the purest of pearls. I would-" The fair haired chef entered as well, singing praises to Nami.

"Yes, yes, thank you." Nami waved his appreciation away, but the man only looked happier.

"A-ah! Luffy's awake?" Usopp tried to enter the room as well, but since so many people were blocking the doorway he only ended up making everybody collapse into a heap.

"Usopp!" Nami suddenly seemed to transform into a she-demon and the sharpshooter gulped nervously.

"Get the hell off me, you love-cook." Zoro growled when heart-eyed Sanji made no move to get up (his head was pretty close to Nami's bust).

"Uh, am I interrupting something?" A timid voice asked from the doorframe.

The sight was an odd one Gin had just walked in on. The Straw Hat lad was sitting on the bed, his older brother standing next to him, and the rest of the crew plus Sanji all in a bundle on the floor.

"Hey, Gin! I thought all Krieg's men had left." Luffy greeted, genuinely happy to see the older man.

"Oh, uh, I didn't go with them." Gin said, looking a little nervous. "Since Don Krieg pretty much fired me I'm not sure I'd be welcome again with him. And after what you did to him I'm not even sure he can continue as a pirate. No future there…" The last part was mumbled.

"Okay. So whacha gonna do now?"

"Uhh, I'm not sure. Find another pirate crew to join, probably."

"Cool. You can become my nakama!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

Gin blushed sheepishly, not-so-secretly hoping the kid would say that, and bowed his head deeply.

"Thank you for this opportunity. I promise I will not let you down."

"Awesome, I got two new crew members!" Luffy grinned.

"Oi, why are you counting me?"

Luffy gave Sanji the Puppy Eyes of Doom.

"No." Sanji said and turned his head so he wouldn't be persuaded by the über adorableness.

* * *

><p>A ringing sounded throughout the ship, signaling a mealtime. Sanji led the group to the dining room where all the chefs were already pigging out.<p>

An incident that started with Patty insulting Sanji's cooking chased the blonde chef out of the hall. Then on the other chefs explained to the Straw Hats that they only insulted his cooking and were generally being mean to Sanji on purpose to make him feel unwelcome and encourage him to finally leave the restaurant to chase after his own dream. Unknown to everybody (except the brothers as they were skilled at kenbunshoku) Sanji heard the entire conversation as he was standing right behind the door.

Incidentally that also convinced him to go and find All Blue.

And that is how the Straw Hats Pirates got their amorous chef.

* * *

><p>The group had set sail from Baratie and just as night fell the booze was broken out.<p>

"Now, our dear newest comrades." Started Usopp, as Gin and Sanji sat next to one another with confused looks. "We will now commence with christening you as our nakama. Let the ritual begin!" He exclaimed.

"Ritual?" Both men echoed.

_Bang_

Nami hit a bottle of booze on the table.

"You two are going to have a drinking competition with our captain." She declared.

"I'm in!" Gin grinned, in no need for more prompting.

"I don't know, I don't usually drink too excessively." Sanji hesitated.

"Chicken?" Zoro mocked.

"Fuck no! I'll drink all you losers under the table if I have to!" The chef replied hotly.

"Good. First round!" Nami began the semi-friendly competition.

Fist mugs went smoothly.

Seconds went a little happier.

Thirds went with songs.

Fourths went with more singing.

Fifths went with occasional hiccupping.

Sixths went… already too happily.

Sevenths… let's take a closer look. Otherwise you wouldn't believe me.

Gin and Sanji had their arms around each others shoulders while singing uproariously. Suddenly, without paying too much attention what he was doing exactly, Gin smacked a kiss on Sanji's cheek. Sanji, not one to be indebted, returned one of his own. Suddenly they both turned their heads and touched lips in an innocent enough way. At least it started out innocent enough, but then it started to get longer and longer, with a little bit more tongue the longer it went on. Finally it lost all innocence and the pair of men fell off their perch, hands everywhere all over each other and lips permanently locked.

The rest of the crew were too busy gripping their sides laughing and trying to keep a lid on their bladders to even attempt to separate the pair, who were no doubt going to be completely _mortified_ the next morning when sober.

Sabo produced a camera and took a nice bunch of pictures for blackmail.

"This is just too rich." Zoro chortled.

"Guys, I think we at least should have the courtesy to make sure they don't find any place _too_ private. Who knows what might happen?" Sabo suggested, sending the rest into another bout of laughter.

"I hope they remember this in the morning." Usopp said once he had caught his breath.

"Kanpai!" Luffy cheered.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading.<strong>

**Shortest chapter I've done for this story and took long as hell… Sorry?**

***Mihawk was 41 at that moment.**

**** I actually accidentally wrote 'legs' instead of 'arm'. It took me a moment before my blunder registered. Then I giggled giddily like a 12 year old. Honestly, MiZo hadn't even really occurred to me before that XD**

*****Wooden shirt means coffin.**

**Question: what's the difference between 'affect' and 'effect'? I've tried dictionaries, but it's still foggy to me.**

**Word count: 6693**


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